Methodologies for equitable allocation of health financial resources: an integrative review

ABSTRACT

There are several experiences in the world that aim to develop methodologies for resource allocation for health, however, what remains to be seen is the extent to which equity is operationalized in these methods. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze what has been produced in national and international literature regarding equitable methodologies for the allocation of health resources and their dimensions. An integrative review was conducted in three portals/databases (Bireme, PubMed and Scopus) of scientific articles, published in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The articles identified the objective(s), the study method used by the researchers and the approach on the methodology of health resource allocation with regard to the discussion/operationalization of equity. There are still few studies in which equitable allocation is the central theme. There is some vagueness about the boundary between ‘allocate’ and ‘finance’. In general, methodologies need to admit the (bio)ethical implications related to equity, they must be based minimally on the per capita dimension, together, mandatorily, with incremental budgeting, sociodemographic, socio-sanitary and epidemiological issues and centered on the ‘health needs’, requiring a constant refinement of the methodology over time to refine the operability of equity.

KEYWORDS Resource allocation; Government financing; Health systems; Healthcare financing; Review literature as topic