Harnessing the health services priority setting lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform routine health services priority setting: An international comparative analysis

Health services priority setting involves identifying services to which the limited health resources (funds, beds, drugs, personnel) should be allocated. While priority setting routinely occurs in all health systems; systematic priority setting mechanisms are not well established in many health systems. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced all health systems to establish health services prioritization mechanisms. This study will harness and share health services priority setting lessons and good practices that were established during the pandemic and if and how these have been adapted to inform routine health services priority setting. This proposal brings together a team of priority setting, health systems, ethics, and pandemic expert researchers. We will (i) review policy documents and the literature and (ii) conduct key informant interviews with policy makers, health services managers, public and patient representatives from Canada (Ontario), Chile and Uganda. The study will provide robust, detailed qualitative evidence from the perspectives of decision makers, health services practitioners, patient and public representatives on the health services priority setting lessons learnt during the pandemic, and the barriers and facilitators to implementing the good practices from the literature and the lessons of good practices which were established during the pandemic into routine health services PS. This study will identify lessons of good practices than can be shared, hence contributing to the priority setting literature and health policy practice in Canada and beyond..