Incentives

This book explores a new approach to health funding, the transfer of money or goods to patients or providers when they take health-related actions or achieve performance targets. It documents a host of experiences with incentives for maternal and child health care, tuberculosis, child nutrition, HIV/AIDS, chronic conditions and more. [from publisher]

The study used a literature review and field research to obtain data on strategies for the retention of health workers in various institutions in Kenya.

Population size is often correlated with the number of physicians in a community, and is conventionally considered to represent the power of communities to attract physicians. However, associations between other demographic/economic variables and the number of physicians in a community have not been fully evaluated. This study seeks other parameters that correlate with the physician population and show which characteristics of a community determine its attractiveness to physicians. [adapted from abstract]

Health worker retention is critical for health system performance and a key problem is how best to motivate and retain health workers. The authors undertook a systematic review to consolidate existing evidence on the impact of financial and non-financial incentives on motivation and retention. [from abstract]

The objectives of this paper are to highlight the situation of health workers in Pacific and Asian countries to gain a better understanding of the contributing factors to health worker motivation, dissatisfaction and migration; examine the regional and global evidence on initiatives to retain a competent and motivated health workforce, especially in rural and remote areas; and suggest ways to address the shortages of health workers in Pacific and Asian countries by using incentives. [from abstract]

Health human resources are now a high priority on the political agenda. It is within this context that policy makers, planners and managers have turned their attention to identifying and implementing incentive systems which will be effective in improving the recruitment and retention of health care personnel. [from abstract]

This paper was commissioned by the health professions with the support of the Global Health Workforce Alliance to provide an overview of the use of incentives for health care professionals. It describes some of the different approaches taken and presents characteristics shared by effective incentive schemes. The paper also suggests some approaches to their development and implementation. [from introduction]

This article discusses the development of a decision framework to assist policymakers in choosing and designing effective incentive systems. The researchers identified several models that have proven to be effective in changing or enabling a health provider’s performance.

This presentation was given at the First Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala. It discusses the Zambia Health Workers Retention Scheme, an incentive program targeting key health worker cadres primarily in rural district to decrease attrition rates of critical service providers. [adapted from author]

During a labor shortage, employment-based benefits can be used to recruit and retain workers. This paper provides data on the availability of benefits to registered nurses (RNs), reports on how health care leaders are approaching the provision of employment-based benefits for nurses, and considers what nurses have to say in focus groups about benefits. Because of the ongoing nurse shortage, many employers are trying to enhance the benefits they offer to support recruitment and retention efforts. We offer recommendations for health care leaders that follow from our findings about the current state of nurses’ employment-based benefits.

By measuring the ability and actual practice of a sample of clinicians in Tanzania and examining the terms of employment for these clinicians, we show that both ability and motivation are important to quality.

The study whose summary is presented here tried to compare the attrition rates in three Private Not For Profit and three Government General Hospitals in West Nile Region over a period of five years. It also examined the destination to which the health professionals were lost, the source of the new staff that replaced those lost by the hospitals, the reasons for attrition as perceived by the existing staff in the hospitals, what kept some of the staff working for longer period than others who chose to leave, and the incentives that were in place for attraction and retention of health professionals in these hospitals.

Remarkable improvements in key health indicators have been achieved in the six years since payment for performance was phased in. Although it is difficult to isolate the effects of performance-based payment on these improved indicators from the efforts aimed at strengthening NGOs and other factors, panel regression results suggest that the new payment incentives were responsible for considerable improvements in both immunization coverage and attended deliveries. [from abstract]

This paper analyzes the use of financial and material incentives for patients and healthcare providers to improve tuberculosis detection and successful completion of treatment.

Work capacity correlates weakly to disease concepts, which in turn are insufficient to explain sick leave behavior. With data mainly from Sweden, a welfare state with high sickness absence rates, our aim was to develop an explanatory theory of how to understand and deal with work absence and sick leave. In this paper we present a theory of work incentives and how to deal with work absence. [from abstract]

This paper examines the design and limitations of incentives for health care providers to serve in rural areas in developing countries. [from summary]

This paper focuses on the scheme by the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) to retain nurse tutors in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). It chronicles the scheme’s successful elements for purposes of eventual replication, suggests how to address some of the challenges and identifies effective incentives, including salary supplements. [from executive summary]

This paper examines the experience with using various incentives to motivate and retain community health workers (CHWs) serving primarily as volunteers in child health and nutrition programs in developing countries.

This study evaluates an intervention to raise healthcare provider morale and retention. Two different incentives-cash and a trophy, awarded to facilities rather than individuals-were tested in two districts. The program was implemented district-wide. Health centers and other small health facilities competed for the awards and were scored on the basis of management system indicators. Interviews with staff in both districts measured the effect of the awards on staff motivation and satisfaction. [publisher’s description]

Rewards are important in attracting, motivating and retaining the most qualified employees, and nurses are no exception to this rule. This makes the establishment of an efficient reward system for nurses a true challenge for every hospital manager. A reward does not necessarily have a financial connotation: non-financial rewards may matter too, or may even be more important. Therefore, the present study examines nurses’ reward perceptions, in order to identify potential reward options. [abstract]

Staffing problems are common to most low- and middle-income countries. It is often difficult to persuade doctors to work in remote rural areas. And those who do take such posts typically do not remain long. [author’s description]

This document provides a brief overview of some issues concerning health worker staffing, including brain drain, substitute health workers and incentives.

This paper offers a conceptual framework for considering the many layers of influences upon health worker motivation. It suggests that worker motivation is influenced not only by specific incentive schemes targeted at workers, but also by the whole range of health sector reforms which potentially affect organizational culture, reporting structures, channels of accountability, etc.

This study was implemented as part of the EQUINET theme work on Human Resources for Health coordinated by Health systems Trust. The study set out to explore and describe the influence of conditions of service on the movement and retention of the health professionals in Namibia. It is a qualitative study targeting mainly professional nurses, doctors, social workers and health inspectors at both operational and managerial levels, in public and private sectors. [from executive summary]

Incentives that affect worker performance may be modified by system change. Attention to both financial and non-financial incentives can make health care delivery more effective. [author’s description]

This presentation was part of the ECSA Workforce Observatory Meeting in Arusha. It describes an evaluative study to determine issues and causes of health worker problems and shortages done in Rwanda to aid in informing policy reform.


To view this presentation, you must have either Microsoft PowerPoint or download the free PowerPoint Viewer.

This presentation was part of the ECSA Workforce Observatory Meeting in Arusha. It discusses health labor force dynamics including how traditional workforce planning does not consider key issues, incentive issues and mapping workfoce productivity in Ghana.


To view this presentation, you must have either Microsoft PowerPoint or download the free PowerPoint Viewer.

This presentation was part of the ECSA Workforce Observatory Meeting in Arusha. It describes an incentive scheme to help retain certain critical staff in the rural areas and to attract health workers to areas with inadequate staff.


To view this presentation, you must have either Microsoft PowerPoint or download the free PowerPoint Viewer.

As part of the High-Level Forum on the Health Millennium Development Goals, this issue paper discusses improving health workforce performance as a key factor in meeting MDGs. The required scaling up of interventions towards the MDGs depends on effective health services delivery systems (HSDS). The availability, the skills, the attitudes, motivation, and behaviors of health workers are key to well-functioning HSDS. [adapted from author]

In the era of cost containment, managers are constantly pursuing increased organizational performance and productivity by aiming at the obvious target, i.e. the workforce. The health care sector, in which production processes are more complicated compared to other industries, is not an exception. In light of recent legislation in Greece in which efficiency improvement and achievement of specific performance targets are identified as undisputable health system goals, the purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument for investigating the attitudes of Greek physicians, nurses and administrative personnel towards job-related aspects, and the extent to which these motivate them to improve performance and increase productivity.

The Department of Health in South Africa has attempted to address the shortage of rural doctors by introducing various interventions, including an increase in salaries, introduction of scarce skills and rural allowances, the deployment of foreign doctors, and upgrading of clinics and hospitals. Despite these, the maldistribution of doctors working in South Africa has not improved significantly. The main objectives of this study were to identify interventions as proposed by doctors in the rural Limpopo province of South Africa and to develop recommendations based on these. [from introduction]