Contractual health services performance agreements for responsive health systems: from conception to implementation in the case of Qatar.

OBJECTIVE

Despite their use worldwide, strategy-based performance management is limited in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. This article explores Qatar's experience, the first from the Region, in implementing contractual agreements between healthcare providers and the regulator-Ministry of Public Health-to align strategy, performance and accountabilities.

DESIGN

mixed-methods including tools development and pilot-testing, guided by performance management cycle with a focus on knowledge translation and key principles: feasibility; mandatory participation; participatory approach through Steering Committee.

SETTING

All public, private and semi-governmental hospitals and primary healthcare centers.

INTERVENTION(S): (i) semi-structured interviews; (ii) review of 4982 indicators; (iii) Delphi technique for selecting indicators with > 80% agreement on importance and > 60% agreement on feasibility; (iv) capacity-building of providers and Ministry staff and 2-month pilot assessed by questionnaire with indicators scoring > 3 considered valid, reliable and feasible; and (v) 1-year grace period assessed by questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Approach strengths and challenges; Data collection and healthcare quality improvements.

RESULTS

Contracts mandate reporting 25 hospital and 15 primary healthcare indicators to the regulator, which delivers confidential benchmarking reports to providers. Scorecards were discussed with the regulator for evidence-informed policymaking. The approach uncovered system-related challenges and learning for public and private sectors: providers commended the participatory approach (82%) and indicated that contracts enabled collecting valid and timely data (64%) and improved healthcare quality (55%).

CONCLUSION

This experience provides insights for countries implementing performance management, responsive regulation and public-private partnerships. It suggests that contractual agreements can be useful, despite their mandatory nature, if clear principles are applied early on.