Works at Joint OECD/Korea Regional Centre on Health and Social Policy (RCHSP) for a talk at the World Bank HCF meetings by Bong-min Yang, PhD (Seoul National University) Seong-ok Kim, PhD (RCHSP)

RCHSP RCHSP was inaugurated in Seoul, on Sep –Letter of Intent on May –Memorandum of Understanding between OECD and Korean Government (MOHW) on March Its aim is to promote deeper policy dialogue between the OECD and Asian community through: –providing capacity-building assistance by offering financial and technical support –conducting information sharing and policy analysis –translating research outcomes into policy action

Works of RCHSP Hosting international meetings regularly –Regional HA experts meeting (joint meeting with APNHAN) 1 st (Dec,4~6,2005), 2 nd (Jul,27~28,2006), 3 rd (Jun,18~20,2007) –Pension experts meeting (joint meeting with World Bank) 1 st (Dec,7~8,2006), 2 nd (Nov,19~20,2007) –Social Expenditure/Social Protection Index (SOCX/SPI) experts meeting 1 st (Nov,27~29,2006), 2 nd (Dec,11~13,2007) Developing and organizing training and technical workshops for HA, Pension, and SOCX/SPI Producing and compiling related important statistics and indicators Conducting comparative researches Distributing OECD expertise to Asians

Necessity of HA Projects in RCHSP An in-depth analysis of health expenditures is necessary for better evaluation and development of overall health policy especially in Asia/Pacific regions –Timely provision of credible data –Comprehensive understanding of determinants of growing health expenditures and better estimation of particular factors (such as ageing, medical technologies, expected population growth) More detailed, standardized HA may provide an answer to the question “who gets what, where, and how”. HA project aims to provide capacity-building assistance by offering financial and technical support to Asia/Pacific regions and sharing experience/information for policy analysis by hosting annual meeting and collecting data

HA Projects of RCHSP (1) Training (seminars, technical workshops) Annual Joint OECD/Korea RCHSP-APNHAN Meeting of Health Accounts Experts –1st Meeting (Dec ) Agenda : Collection of Standardized HA Data 31 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 7 International Organizations –2nd Meeting (Jul ) Agenda : Joint Data Collection Efforts on HA and Strengthening Regional and National Capacity for HA 34 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 8 International Organizations –3rd Meeting (Jun ) Agenda : Reviews of country experiences and progress, regional data collection, SHA implementation experience 38 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 7 International Organizations

HA Projects of RCHSP (2) SHA Data Collection through Questionnaire Distribution to Asia-Pacific Region –Joint collaborations involving WHO/APNHAN, RCHSP(Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR), OECD(AUS,JPN,KOR,NZL) Green Paper Project –RCHSP Technical Papers of SHA-Based Health Accounts in the Asia/Pacific Region ; Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand (published in 2007) China, Malaysia (will be published in 2008)

RCHSP can contribute to Health Care Financing research in Asia-Pacific region through: Join HA data collection give accurate figures on health care financing system in each country in Asia/Pacific regions Green Papers give more descriptive information about Health Care Financing System Annual meeting and technical workshops joint with OECD and APNHAN provide capacity-building assistance by financial and technical support to Asia/Pacific regions to get standardized quality HA data Analysis of data and policy enables comparative study of health care financing system in Asia/Pacific regions after some adjustment (data year, methodology, etc)

RCHSP & HCF works In the future, its role could be expanded to other Health Care Financing areas, such as –Comparative works for universal coverage –Pharmaceutical reimbursement and pricing –Health equity –Health technology assessment –Ageing and health care, long-term care –Management of chronic diseases

Future HCF works in Asia Bong-min Yang, PhD

Use of Comparative Data for Health System Research and Policy Development: South Korea Health insurance reform Separation of drug prescription and dispensing Change in payment-reimbursement system Economic evaluations and pharmaceutical policy reform

HCF works in Asia Each country has its own culture in policy formulation and implementation, influenced by –Economy, politics, empowerment of civic groups, research, academia,... Judging from Korean experiences, Asian countries now need an OECD-type arena for policy sharing However, your willingness to join depends upon your willingness to pay Then, the key issue is, among others, –how good in quality the research outputs from this arena will be?

HCF works in Asia SNU (Seoul National University) attempted to set up an international health research centre in 2005 It didn’t work, mainly due to domestic politics involved May try again? Joint program with RCHSP could be one option Alternatively, international agencies jointly could work on this possibility No matter which, –Asia needs one such arena –Good quality work ought to be produced, like the Equitap project