Best Health Accounting Practices Using SHA 2011

Abstract

Building health accounts with the expected detail, quality and usability is challenging. With the accumulated experience of generating health accounts, it is possible to reach a progressively more cost-effective process. To contribute to this aim, this compendium on best practices offers support to the work of novice and experienced health accountants. Resources used in the health system need to be adequate in amount and used for the satisfaction of the consumption needs of the population and according to health priorities. To support decisions involved in this process, it is important to measure and analyze these resources. Health accounts are a systematic description of the resources flowing in the health system related to the consumption of health care goods and services. They represent a system of interrelated classifications to provide a comprehensive view of the health system. The agreement of reporting health spending under a standard framework was reached by the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States in 2011 and endorsed by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) given the recognition of the contribution of expenditure data to informing decisions in the health system.

This document will be complementary to the SHA 2011 manual and related guidelines,with a practical approach including a detailed set of examples of “how to” methods to reach the expected goals. It begins by presenting the idea of health accounts as a continued process to inform policies and monitor their implementation from a spending point of view, notably for the case of the LAC region.