Architecture of the health system as an enabler of better wellbeing.

Abstract

Health systems worldwide have heterogenous capacities and financing characteristics. No clear empirical evidence is available on the possible outcomes of these characteristics for population wellbeing. The study aims to provide empirical insight into health policy alternatives to support the development of health system architecture to improve population wellbeing. We developed an unsupervised neural network model to cluster countries and used the Human Development Index to derive a wellbeing model. The results show that no single health system architecture is associated with a higher level of population wellbeing. Strikingly, high levels of health expenditure and physical health capacity do not guarantee a high level of population wellbeing and different health systems correspond to a certain wellbeing level. Our analysis shows that alternative options exist for some health system characteristics. These can be considered by governments developing health policy priorities.