Works at Joint OECD/Korea Regional Centre on Health and Social Policy (RCHSP)

1. Works atJoint OECD/Korea Regional Centre on Health and Social Policy (RCHSP) for a talk at the World Bank HCF meetings by Bong-min Yang, PhD (Seoul National University) Seong-ok Kim, PhD (RCHSP)

2. RCHSP • RCHSP was inaugurated in Seoul, on Sep 9. 2005 • Letter of Intent on May 13. 2004 • Memorandum of Understanding between OECD and Korean Government (MOHW) on March 31. 2005 • Its aim is to promote deeper policy dialogue between the OECD and Asian community through: • providing capacity-building assistance by offering financial and technical support • conducting information sharing and policy analysis • translating research outcomes into policy action

3. Works of RCHSP • Hosting international meetings regularly • Regional HA experts meeting (joint meeting with APNHAN) • 1st(Dec,4~6,2005), 2nd(Jul,27~28,2006), 3rd(Jun,18~20,2007) • Pension experts meeting (joint meeting with World Bank) • 1st(Dec,7~8,2006), 2nd(Nov,19~20,2007) • Social Expenditure/Social Protection Index (SOCX/SPI) experts meeting • 1st(Nov,27~29,2006), 2nd(Dec,11~13,2007) • Developing and organizing training and technical workshops for HA, Pension, and SOCX/SPI • Producing and compiling related important statistics and indicators • Conducting comparative researches • Distributing OECD expertise to Asians

4. Necessity of HA Projects in RCHSP • An in-depth analysis of health expenditures is necessary for better evaluation and development of overall health policy especially in Asia/Pacific regions • Timely provision of credible data • Comprehensive understanding of determinants of growing health expenditures and better estimation of particular factors (such as ageing, medical technologies, expected population growth) • More detailed, standardized HA may provide an answer to the question “who gets what, where, and how”. • HA project aims to provide capacity-building assistance by offering financial and technical support to Asia/Pacific regions and sharing experience/information for policy analysis by hosting annual meeting and collecting data

5. HA Projects of RCHSP(1) • Training (seminars, technical workshops) • Annual Joint OECD/Korea RCHSP-APNHAN Meeting of Health Accounts Experts • 1st Meeting (Dec. 4-6. 2005) • Agenda : Collection of Standardized HA Data • 31 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 7 International Organizations • 2nd Meeting (Jul. 27-28. 2006) • Agenda : Joint Data Collection Efforts on HA and Strengthening Regional and National Capacity for HA • 34 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 8 International Organizations • 3rd Meeting (Jun. 18-20. 2007) • Agenda : Reviews of country experiences and progress, regional data collection, SHA implementation experience • 38 Participants : 15 Asian Countries/Territories, 7 International Organizations

6. HA Projects of RCHSP(2) • SHA Data Collection through Questionnaire Distribution to Asia-Pacific Region • Joint collaborations involving WHO/APNHAN, RCHSP(Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR), OECD(AUS,JPN,KOR,NZL) • Green Paper Project • RCHSP Technical Papers of SHA-Based Health Accounts in the Asia/Pacific Region ; • Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand (published in 2007) • China, Malaysia (will be published in 2008)

7. RCHSP can contribute to Health Care Financing research in Asia-Pacific region through: • Join HA data collection give accurate figures on health care financing system in each country in Asia/Pacific regions • Green Papers give more descriptive information about Health Care Financing System • Annual meeting and technical workshops joint with OECD and APNHAN provide capacity-building assistance by financial and technical support to Asia/Pacific regions to get standardized quality HA data • Analysis of data and policy enables comparative study of health care financing system in Asia/Pacific regions after some adjustment (data year, methodology, etc)

8. RCHSP & HCF works • In the future, its role could be expanded to other Health Care Financing areas, such as • Comparative works for universal coverage • Pharmaceutical reimbursement and pricing • Health equity • Health technology assessment • Ageing and health care, long-term care • Management of chronic diseases

9. Future HCF works in Asia Bong-min Yang, PhD

10. Use of Comparative Data for Health System Research and Policy Development: South Korea • Health insurance reform • Separation of drug prescription and dispensing • Change in payment-reimbursement system • Economic evaluations and pharmaceutical policy reform

11. HCF works in Asia • Each country has its own culture in policy formulation and implementation, influenced by • Economy, politics, empowerment of civic groups, research, academia,... • Judging from Korean experiences, Asian countries now need an OECD-type arena for policy sharing • However, your willingness to join depends upon your willingness to pay • Then, the key issue is, among others, • how good in quality the research outputs from this arena will be?

12. HCF works in Asia • SNU (Seoul National University) attempted to set up an international health research centre in 2005 • It didn’t work, mainly due to domestic politics involved • May try again? • Joint program with RCHSP could be one option • Alternatively, international agencies jointly could work on this possibility • No matter which, • Asia needs one such arena • Good quality work ought to be produced, like the Equitap project