Objectives To describe the factors determining choice of health financing systems.
Methods Search words chosen by both health policy experts and the review search coordinators after discussion and pilot. 19 electronic databases, 2 international health institutes websites, 2 grey literature databases, and search engine Google were included in the databases. Any literature about health financing reforms on country level was included. Pre-designed data extraction form was used for collecting the information. The data was analyzed and described by pre-designed analytic framework.
Result A total of 59 studies were included in this review. The driving forces included political, economic, social, and health systems factors. Development level of economy was the most crucial factor for transformation of health financing systems. The health system could directly led to the transition between different health systems, both Italy and France transform their financing system from social health insurance to national health system. The key persons such as premier of Thailand and Germany, leader of political and social organization in Israel and Korea are the driving forces of health financing reforms.
Conclusion Developing countries can learn from the countries which have achieved universal coverage through health financing reform. Underlying factors influencing formulation of a health financing system need to be considered before taking actions in reforming the current system. Efforts in transforming the health financing systems need to be made from political, economic, and health systems sides.
Citation： JIA Liying,YUAN Beibei,YUAN Shasha,ZHANG Xiaojuan,HAN Chao,MENG Qingyue. Factors Determining the Health Financing Systems: A Descriptive Systematic Review. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2009, 09(3): 247-256. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.20090048 Copy