Table 2 Definitions of criteria for priority setting included in the criteria map

Health level

Effectiveness on individual level

Interventions that are effective in reduction of the morbidity and mortality, as measured on individual person level, may deserve priority.

Effectiveness on population level

Interventions that are effective in reduction of the morbidity and mortality, as measured on population level, may deserve priority.

Patient reported health status

Interventions that have high impact on patient reported health status may deserve priority.

Safety

Interventions that do not harm in terms of morbidity and mortality may deserve priority.

Health distribution

Various criteria

All criteria proposed in the map have the same underlying rationale: all people should have as much of a fair chance to live a healthy life, and therefore interventions focusing on certain social groups may deserve priority.

Responsiveness

Patient perceived quality of care

Interventions that are responsive according to patient’s expectations of quality of care may deserve priority.

Burden of disease

Interventions that focus on a high burden of disease in society may deserve priority.

Social & financial risk protection

Catastrophic health expenditure

Health care related costs can push people into poverty. Interventions that protect people against catastrophic health expenditure may deserve priority.

Economic productivity & care for others

People who are economically productive and/or take care of others and become ill face income loss and health related costs, which could lead to poverty. Interventions that target those people may deserve priority.

Rare diseases

Interventions for rare diseases might be very costly (because of the small number patients) and could push people into poverty. Therefore, these interventions may deserve priority.

Improved efficiency

Size of target population

Interventions that show economies of scale because they target a high number of people may deserve priority.

Feasibility

Service delivery

Service requirements

Interventions that are easy to implement because of the current service capacity may have priority. E.g. availability of: service infrastructure, delivery models, safety and quality and management.

Health workforce

Health workforce requirements

Interventions that are easy to implement because of the current health workforce capacity may have priority. E.g. availability workforce and workforce policies, preferences of workforce for working conditions.

Information

Information requirements

Interventions that are easy to implement because of the current information system capacity may have priority. E.g. availability of surveillance systems.

Medical products, vaccines & technology

Medical products, vaccines & technology requirements

Interventions that are easy to implement because of the current medical products, vaccines & technology capacity may have priority. E.g. norms, standards and reliability procurement.

Financing

Unit costs

Interventions that have small unit cost per patient may have priority.

Budget impact

Interventions that consume a small part of the budget may have priority.

Financing party

Interventions that receive sustainable financing may have priority.

Leadership/governance

Congruency previous priority setting

Interventions that are in line with previous spending pattern may have priority.

Cultural acceptability

Interventions that are cultural acceptable, because of the norms and values, may have priority.

Political acceptability

Interventions that are political acceptable may have priority.

Stakeholder acceptability

Interventions that are accepted by important stakeholder groups (e.g. patients groups, taxpayers, health care providers, donor agencies, voters) may have priority.

Legal barriers

Interventions that face no legal barriers may have priority.