Health Systems and Financing Consultant

Company Overview:

About Palladium - Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value.  We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world's most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people's lives. 

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Project Overview and Role:

USAID’s ProtectHealth, formally known as the Health Equity and Financial Protection Platform, is a five-year (2019-2024) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) health financing policy project implemented by Palladium. USAID's ProtectHealth supports the Government of the Philippines (GPH)’s implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act by addressing health financing policy bottlenecks. In collaboration with other USAID implementing partners (IPs), USAID's ProtectHealth supports the GPH to enhance access and financing to meet key tuberculosis (TB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and family planning (FP) outcomes while realizing its goal of achieving UHC.

The project advocates that the national government’s priorities and catch-up strategies be translated operationally into two broad strategic adjustments that shall also be reflected in the USAID support strategy. The first broad strategy is to streamline implementation of the UHC Act implementation, which involves developing adaptation strategies for priority programs under the GPH’s terminology of the “new and better normal”; better delineate financing accountabilities of the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and local government units (LGUs); leverage GPH financing to drive local integration, expanding private sector contracting; and focus financing to securing access to a basic service package, e.g., immediate eligibility and primary health care.

 The second broad strategy is for DOH and PhilHealth to systematically introduce reforms in governance, service delivery and financing by assisting specific sites in their local health system integration efforts. Related to this, the project will also undertake testing of specific interventions in selected areas to guide the wider implementation of UHC.

 Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

The Consultant assigned to this position shall provide support to the project on matters concerning health systems reform, universal health care, benefit package design, grants financing, local health systems integration and related issues as it applies to the five workstreams of the project.

Under the two broad strategies, activities under USAID’s ProtectHealth’s Year 3 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) were organized into five workstreams, which correspond to three Life of Project (LOP) result areas:

Provide support to national health financing policy design to address financing bottlenecks to achieving TB, FP and HIV health outcomes
Provide support to strengthen DOH capacity for budget management
Provide support to DOH and PhilHealth on benefit package design and strategic purchasing
Develop, strengthen, and institutionalize broad health financing Data Demand and Information Use (DDIU) related to health utilization and financial protection.
Develop, strengthen, and institutionalize DOH, PhilHealth and LGUs capacity to design and implement operations research as well as implementation research (IR) to monitor effectiveness of health financing reforms.
For Workstream 1, USAID’s ProtectHealth continues to build on its support to the DOH and PhilHealth in the drafting and promulgation of the UHC Act Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) and related policies, this time in the context of the “new normal” brought about by the pandemic. Specifically, the project assisted in: 1) developing policies on complementation of private health insurance and the NHIP; 2) drafting the Health Care Financing (HCF) Strategy 2022-2030, 3) defining the approach to re-devolution and the transition to grant financing of devolved and re-devolved health services under the UHC, 4) updating the UHC Medium Term Expenditure Program (MTEP) covering 2022 to 2026 and 5) drafting of the sandbox policy.

For Workstream 2, USAID’s ProtectHealth assisted DOH in its efforts to improve its budget execution performance.  The project recently assisted the DOH Financial Management Service (FMS) in the development of the rollout strategy and assisting in the adoption of the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), including the training of its core users.

For Workstream 3, the project assisted PhilHealth in finalizing the Benefit Development Plan (BDP) consisting of the rollout strategy and its benefit delivery protocol. The strategy serves as a roadmap that outlines the principles and other considerations in developing and introducing new or revised National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) benefits. On the other hand, the benefit development protocol provides an objective, inclusive and transparent process for developing benefits.  The project also supported PhilHealth in developing its primary care benefit package or Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama (Konsulta) by designing a Konsulta costing model and developing a Konsulta costing calculator. The calculator allowed PhilHealth to generate estimates of required costs corresponding to alternative scenarios of Konsulta service inclusions and policy assumptions. The project will continue its assistance to implementing  Konsulta by developing and testing a monitoring mechanism for Konsulta in the context of a proposed sandbox activity that will synergize with the City-wide TB Elimination Campaign (CiTEC).

USAID’s ProtectHealth also provided various inputs to strengthen and guide PhilHealth’s strategy in communicating its various benefits and programs, especially changes related to UHC Act implementation and COVID-19. The project has supported PhilHealth in developing a framework and corresponding strategies and template materials to effectively communicate the UHC Act to its members and key stakeholders. The project also assisted DOH in developing materials for DOH infomercials on UHC that were aired on television by GMA 7. For Year 3, the project will continue to support the development of specific communications strategies that will help PhilHealth develop customized messages and template materials grounded on feedback from PhilHealth clients and stakeholders that are also aligned with PhilHealth’s Communication Action Plan.

For Workstream 4, the project aims to develop the capacity of DOH and PhilHealth in the use of data for decision making. Initially, the project assessed the financial viability of the National Health Insurance Program using 2020 revenue and expenditure data. This helped PhilHealth identify the vulnerabilities of the premium contribution and benefit utilization structure as major considerations in pushing for upcoming reforms. The support will be carried over to FY 2022 where the project will assist PhilHealth in developing a monitoring system for NHIP financial viability and benefit delivery performance.

For Workstream 5, USAID’s ProtectHealth has been supporting the implementation of CiTEC in Cebu City. The CiTEC aims to find and treat missing TB cases in the context of reforms stipulated by the UHC Act. Among these is the design of guidelines for provider contracting and payment mechanisms between the City Health Office and private and public providers, development of both a case finding and mobilization protocol to guide local implementers to implement profiling and case finding activities, and resource estimation of requirements needed to implement CiTEC, and guidance in securing funds for its activities.  In addition, the project supports USAID’s LGU pivot strategy that is implemented via the UHC CLA Network. The project, in partnership with other USAID IPs is assisting  12 United States Government-assisted sites to achieve local health systems integration.

In the process of providing technical assistance (TA) to DOH, PhilHealth and LGUs, USAID’s ProtectHealth project will emphasize the provision of evidence-based advice and recommendations. Further, USAID’s ProtectHealth will adopt principles of adaptive management by systematically keeping track of GPH strategies and policies impacting the health sector. USAID’s ProtectHealth will also learn and share key lessons with the DOH, PhilHealth, USAID, and other implementing partners (IPs).



Specific tasks, level of effort, and timing

The Consultant will provide support to USAID’s ProtectHealth in providing technical assistance to DOH, PhilHealth and/or selected project sites on any of the five workstreams of the Project. Specifically, the consultant is expected to provide support along any or all of the following types of technical activities:

Review and synthesize evidence from relevant scientific literature and draw inferences or applications for the Philippine setting;
Collect, process, and analyze data in response to specific research, operations and policy questions identified by the project;
Conceptualize, design and/or implement specific technical assistance activities, such as but not limited to surveys, implementation research or policy research;
Provide advice on specific issues or topics identified by the project;
Review technical outputs of the project and provide comments and suggestions for revision;
Perform other tasks as may be defined by the Chief of Party or the Deputy Chief of Party or the Health Financing and Systems Strengthening Advisor.

Specific tasks and timelines will be outlined in individual consultant Work Orders, priced either by a daily rate or a fixed-price per deliverable, subject to agreement between the consultant and the project.

Required Qualifications:

 Advanced degree in economics, finance, public health, health policy, health financing, Law, Medicine or any related field;
At least 3 years’ experience in developing policies or implementing programs related to Universal Health Care, health systems, health financing, local health, benefit design, social health insurance, project management and related analytical work;
Demonstrated proficiency in client management and coordination with multiple government stakeholders
Effective written and verbal communication skills in English, and demonstrated ability to produce high quality reports and deliverables in a timely manner;
Strong organizational skills to ensure activities, timelines, and progress occur on schedule
Proficiency in MS Office applications;
Ability to work with low level of supervision and as a part of a team when required.