Serbia - Baseline Survey on Cost and Efficiency in Primary Health Care Centers Before Provider Payment Reforms

The purpose of this study is to conduct a baseline survey on the cost and efficiency in Primary Health Care (PHC) Centers in Serbia before the implementation of the payment reforms. Results can be used to inform the payment reform and to establish a baseline on health sector performance including utilization, quality, cost, and efficiency against which the impact of the reforms can be assessed in a follow-up survey. Recommendations about payment system design and capitation formula are beyond the scope of this report and have been undertaken as a separate activity. This study was conducted with the support of World Bank health sector strategy funds. The rest of this report is organized is follows. Chapter two presents the data and methodology used in this survey to evaluate the cost and efficiency performance in Dom Zdravlja (DZs). Results are presented and discussed in chapter three. Based on findings, chapter four concludes and proposes several reform measures to support the effect of the provider payment reform. The annex contains additional information including a technical annex with an overview on the literature on cost and efficiency analysis, the econometric analysis, and the model building process; a list of health facilities included in the survey, summary results, and the questionnaire used to collect information.