Patient journey as tool for measuring effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community health interventions

Abstract

Abstract Myanmar, Vietnam, and Indonesia aim for a stronger interlinkage between primary and secondary health care as well as between health facilities and communities. The possibility to combine community-based facilities with primary health care will help to reduce costs and provide synergistic effects to interventions that are currently functioning on a standalone level. However, the evidence on (cost-) effectiveness of prevention and treatment targeted at NCDs, such as diabetes and hypertension, is scarce in Southeast Asia. Outside Southeast Asia multiple studies have shown the (cost-) effectiveness and efficiency in LMICs of service delivery of healthcare interventions (e.g., shifting the point of care), improvement of the health workforce (e.g., capacity building of healthcare workers), improvement of health information (e.g., monitoring of patients and people at risk), and health financing (e.g., community-based insurance system). This indicates the potential of adjusting existing interventions or tailoring new interventions to its local context within the field of NCD related supply of prevention and treatment. Matching the chronic care pathway (patient journey) of the country specific demand with possible improvements of the supply side of the health care system in place could help improve the (cost-) effectiveness and efficiency. To get more insight into the demand, services and outcomes of NCDs in Southeast Asia we identified the patient journeys and related methodology to evaluate (cost-)effective interventions for identifying individuals with high risks for developing NCDs, early treatment and lifestyle interventions, which fit in local cultures and health systems.