Health System Performance Assessment (HSPA) frameworks have been developed and used increasingly across countries and regions, as a way to bring together stakeholders in the health sector to share common health system objectives and to support their work towards better health system performance. In 2021, the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic requested technical assistance from the European Commission and the OECD to support the process of developing a national HSPA framework that would enable the national Czech authorities to institutionalise the reporting of health system performance indicators.
An effective HSPA framework should be comprehensive, encompassing all aspects of a health system and its performance. It should incorporate both quantitative and qualitative indicators and should be able to serve as a basis for comparison and benchmarking with other countries, as well as for monitoring regional and socio‑economic differences. The framework should also be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances, such as changing policy priorities, developments in strategic policy objectives and plans, and developments in the health system itself, such as technological advances and changing population and health needs.
The HSPA framework for the Czech Republic fills a gap in the Czech health system to support an overview of performance, policy planning, monitoring, and decision taking. It was designed via a highly consultative and iterative process, creating an ownership of the developed framework among national authorities and healthcare stakeholders. It is hoped that this will lead to improvements in data use, transparency and accountability among stakeholders, and public awareness of health system performance.