Evaluating the Impact of Results-Based Financing on Health Worker Performance : Theory, Tools and Variables to Inform an Impact Evaluation
In order to advance our understanding of why Results Based Financing (RBF) works or not, it is crucial that evaluations not only measure the impact of such an arrangement on final outcomes (population health), but also assess the changes in variables in the causal chain between intervention and f...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/07/24819487/evaluating-impact-results-based-financing-health-worker-performance-theory-tools-variables-inform-impact-evaluation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22375 |
| Summary: | In order to advance our understanding of why Results Based Financing (RBF) works or not, it is
crucial that evaluations not only measure the impact of such an arrangement on final outcomes
(population health), but also assess the changes in variables in the causal chain between
intervention and final outcomes. Health worker performance is a key variable in this chain; it is
only by changing health workers’ behaviors—their performance—that RBF can influence health
outcomes. Careful assessment of impacts on health worker performance is therefore a natural
and important element of any RBF impact evaluations. This paper discusses various approaches
to evaluating the impact of RBF on health worker performance. The first part is a discussion of
possible ways in which RBF may affect health worker behavior, based on economic theory and
empirical evidence. The second part is a more practical discussion of how health worker
performance and other relevant variables can be measured and how impacts can be estimated.
This is followed by some practical steps that can be taken to ensure that the evaluation leads to
actions that can be implemented; a brief conclusion completes the paper. |
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