Aligning values and outcomes in priority–setting for health

Numerous factors and competing interests shape policymaking and budget allocation for health and health systems. In particular, the values and outcomes prioritized by policymakers have important implications for health spending and the impacts they have on populations and countries. Based on Harvard’s Ministerial Leadership Program, this article provides an overarching and integrative framework that policymakers can use to explicitly consider the priorities shaping their decisions, the outcomes that result from their decisions, and processes for making these decisions. The framework includes four key questions: 1) What values underlie the government’s priorities for the country? 2) Based on these values, what goals for the health care system does the government hope to achieve? 3) Based on these goals, where should the government allocate its financial resources for health? 4) How should the government allocate its financial resources for health? The framework also takes into consideration health system, economic, and political outcomes that result from budget allocations.