Roshni Joshi’s Post

A useful report on the link between national health and wealth, thanks to Diana Wu David for sharing. ´The UK health system, like that of several countries, is based around two key concepts. The first is a focus on disease treatment rather than on health itself. Individuals present themselves to their doctor when they are unwell, and the system responds by trying to identify the disease and respond accordingly. It is this system that is proving unsustainable in response to an ageing population and a shift in the disease burden towards chronic illness. Intervening late in the process of an ageing-related disease is important but it is likely to provide limited health benefits and often long-running costs. The second key concept underpinning the UK health system is that the focus is on allocating a given budget to achieve a variety of important health-related measures of outcomes, such as Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) or hospital waiting-list targets. As a consequence, much of the macroeconomic perspective on health focuses on the size of the health budget rather than how it is allocated in a way that could influence both health and economic outcomes.’ 🐨 Nicola Palmarini Martin Frölander Michael Clinton

A very insightful post and it should make everyone think about the benefits of preventative healthcare. At LiverScan we believe this is the future direction of health and prevention is better than cure. Read the full article in the link below. #preventativehealthcrae #powerofchange #lifestylemedicine #futurehealthcare

To break the cycle of declining health, weak economic growth and constrained health budgets, significant change is imperative. The UK government must shift to a virtuous cycle in which health expenditure also prioritises prevention, keeping people healthier and enabling longer working lives.

My health, my right! My right, my health! Let us walk the talk! Health care is a fundamental investment, one that can unlock human capital and economic dividends for countries, but the challenge to bring more care to more people requires political will, financing and partnership. This was the main theme at the “Transforming Challenge into Action: Expanding Health Coverage for All” event where World Bank Group president Ajay Banga announced an ambitious plan to support countries in delivering quality, affordable health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030. During a fireside chat moderated by international broadcast journalist Shakuntala Santhiran, Ajay Banga and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization spoke about the challenges to expanding health coverage and the urgency of doing so. Banga said the new plan would “widen the aperture” of the Bank’s priorities from maternal and child health services to the health needs of people over their lifetimes, a move that also responds to rapidly aging populations, the surge in non-communicable diseases and the associated health care costs. Following the fireside, Shun’ichi Suzuki, Minister of Finance, Japan announced the establishment of a Universal Health Care (UHC) Knowledge Hub to enhance health and finance ministries' capacity, an initiative also supported by the Bank and the World Health Organization. Two separate panel discussions ensued with country and civil society leaders discussing what it will take to build resilient health systems, expand coverage and improve the health of populations so that countries can thrive. Panelists discussed the importance of political will, affordability, country ownership, partnerships with the private sector and the need for more financing in reaching universal health coverage for all!

“The ability to keep people healthy is a critical indicator of a nation’ capacity to achieve equitable growth.” National policy choices on a country’s health and well-being matter. Check out this study comparing health system performance in 10 countries, including the United States, to glean insights for U.S. improvement. Methods: Analysis of 70 health system performance measures in five areas: access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes. Key Findings: The top three countries are Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, although differences in overall performance between most countries are relatively small. The only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower. Conclusion: The U.S. continues to be in a class by itself in the underperformance of its health care sector. While the other nine countries differ in the details of their systems and in their performance on domains, unlike the U.S., they all have found a way to meet their residents’ most basic health care needs, including universal coverage. https://lnkd.in/gRYwda_m

Australia tops this year's Commonwealth Fund health system rankings of 10 national health systems, and the US remains the high cost/low performance outlier. Australia spent the lowest proportion of GDP on healthcare (9.8%) to achieve these results. The US spent the highest proportion (16.5%). Australia was top scorer for health outcomes and equity, but scored poorly on access to care. The US came last in health outcomes and access to care, and 2nd last for administrative efficiency and equity. https://lnkd.in/gpk25m6M

A very useful report on the failing US health system because of lack of investment in primary care, administrative inefficieny, inequity and health outcomes. There is some good news with being ranked last. We can only go up !

This new report from The Commonwealth Fund confirms what we've been grappling with for a long time: the U.S. health system continues to fall behind other nations. This has been a persistent challenge, not a recent development. Key findings that demand attention: 🔻 The U.S. has the shortest life expectancy and most avoidable deaths among the countries studied. 💔 Americans face more barriers to care, and many don't have access to a regular doctor. 🚨 Health equity continues to be a major issue, especially for lower-income individuals who are unable to afford care and experience discrimination. While we continue to lead in preventive care and patient safety, it's clear that we need to focus on reducing disparities and improving access. The potential is there—it’s time to act on it.

The Commonwealth Fund’s “Mirror, Mirror 2024,” provides a comprehensive comparison of health systems across 10 countries. The findings highlight the stark underperformance of the US health system compared to its peers, looking at five key domains of performance including access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes. The US performs poorly overall – for our GDP spend, we simply are not providing Americans the care they deserve. The countries highlighted as top performers were Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. This isn’t new news…but we don’t seem to be moving the needle much to change it.   What do you think are the most critical changes needed to improve the US healthcare system? What can we learn from other top performing countries? https://lnkd.in/gC-fVqxV

Sad state of affairs. The report is succinct and powerful. The answer is clear.