Washington, DC, USA, 2009 (this event has been postponed to second half of 2009. Please check back for more details.)

Governance - the structure and flow of authority, information, and incentives— is an important determinant of how well a country’s health sector performs.  But what it means, how it works, and how it can be enhanced remains a vexing problem for decision makers. 

Some questions that arise about governance in the health sector and the levels of accountability of providers and insurers and governments are equally applicable to centralized and market-led economies:

• What incentives are needed to make health care providers accountable to citizens and to governments?
• What makes the health sector vulnerable to corruption, and what can be done about it?
• What design features can be used to thwart irresponsible and corrupt behavior?
• What have countries tried to make health sector procurement more efficient and transparent?
• What can the public sector do to provide an enabling environment for private health care providers and insurers to operate efficiently and transparently?
• What financial management systems, surveys, and data collection programs can improve health sector governance?

Understanding governance in health care entails a systematic examination of the incentives, authority, and information flows in health care systems and how their interaction affects performance.

There is no “best” or “unique” way to govern a health system, but promising alternatives can be mined from case studies and the use of analytical tools. Opportunities abound to re-shape health systems so that it is less vulnerable to irresponsible behavior and to establish systems to detect and respond appropriately to corruption when it occurs.