SUMMARY
Peter Smith explores the link between research evidence and public policy, especially in the health domain. He is particularly interested in the way that rigorous economic methodology can be adapted and used to inform health policy. Previous work has explored areas such as provider payment methods, strategic resource allocation, hospital waiting times and the behavioural consequences of provider performance measurement.
Current work is focusing predominantly on international comparison and economic aspects of global health. Topics include:
- the comparison of health system performance (especially efficiency);
- methods to select the basket of health services to be publicly funded, especially in low and middle income settings;
- the transition towards universal health coverage
- links between the health system and the broader economy.
Guest Lectures
Models of weighted capitation for primary health care, Seminar on Financing Primary Health Care, Brazilian Ministry of Health, Brasilia, 2019
Re-thinking health and wellbeing: how health systems contribute to economic and societal progress, European Observatory seminar on Health and Wellbeing, 74th UN General Assembly, New York, 2019
Accounting for social risk in medical and social service payments: the English experience, American Board of Family Medicine Embassy Series Event, UK Embassy, Washington DC, 2019
Health systems performance assessment - what is it all about?, Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, 2019
Methodological issues in setting the health benefits package, Indian Institute of Public Health Workshop, Guwahati, 2019
Cross-sectoral interventions for non-communicable disease prevention, Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Bangkok, 2019
Budget impact and expenditure caps: potential or pitfall?, ISPOR Europe Conference, Barcelona, 2018
Fiscal sustainability: are health systems the problem or the solution?, Opening Plenary, 21st European Health Policy Forum, Gastein, Austria, 2018
Affordable innovative health systems, Plenary, Workshop on the healthcare value chain: data and cooperation for efficiency gains, European Commission, Brussels, 2018
Is there an economic case for investing in the NHS? Really?, Annual Lecture, Office of Health Economics, 2018
Influencing health policy in a post-truth era: the role of health economics, Opening Plenary, Nordic Health Economics Study Group, Tromsø, 2018
Reframing the dialogue between health and finance on investing in health systems, World Health Organization Conference on Health Systems for Prosperity and Solidarity, Tallinn, 2018
The role of health economics in a ‘Post-Truth’ Era, Opening Plenary, UK Health Economics Study Group, London, 2018
The state of the art in risk adjustment research in some non-competitive health care systems, Invited lecture, Risk Adjustment Network annual conference, The Hague, 2017
Measuring and improving productivity in the health sector, Conference on Sustaining Health and Social Care Systems in Ageing Societies, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 2017
Design of the Health Benefits Package: principles and key methodological issues, Opening Plenary, 6th HTAsiaLink Conference, Hanoi, 2017
Developing a framework for evaluating interventions aimed at health system strengthening, Launch of China Health Technology Assessment Network, Xiamen, 2017
Guiding patients to the best point of service, 17th European Health Forum, Gastein Austria, 2016
How can health economics research help policymakers improve health system performance?, Opening Plenary, German Health Economics Association, Berlin, 2016
Where have we got to in understanding health system efficiency?, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC, 2016
Emergency readmissions to hospital: a good measure of health system performance?, Opening Plenary, Austrian Health Economics Association, Vienna, 2016
The fundamentals of choosing a health benefits package, Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Bangkok, 2016
The role of practitioner motivation in designing provider payment reforms and other incentives, Commonwealth Fund International Symposium on Health Policy, Washington DC, 2015
Efficiency in health systems: what can economics contribute?, Inaugural Lecture, Masters Programme in Economics, Finance and International Integration, University of Pavia, Pavia, 2015
Performance targets for public services: some UK experience, Keynote, Annual Conference KORA, Danish Institute for Local and Regional Government Research, Copenhagen, 2015
Comparing health systems: holy grail or fool’s gold?, Public Lecture Series Spreestadt-Forum, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, 2015
Strategies for health system performance comparison: some international experience, Queen's University Health Policy Conference, Toronto, 2015
Improving policy and practice for infectious diseases: the role of economic thinking, Institute of Tropical Medicine Colloquium, Antwerp, 2014
Health systems and health system performance: the scope for action at the European level, 17th European Health Forum, Gastein, Austria, 2014
The role of primary health care in controlling the cost of specialist health care, Symposium on Integration and Coordination of Long-term Care for the Elderly, Seijo University, Tokyo, 2014
Hospital quality and costs: evidence from England, Centre pour la Recherche Economique at ses Applications, Paris, 2014
The contribution of efficiency gains to universal health coverage, World Health Organization Course on Health Financing, Barcelona, 2014
Economic aspects of universal health coverage, Symposium on Universal Health Coverage, Economic Research Southern Africa, Stellenbosh University, 2014
Rationing health care: the use of explicit health benefits packages, Rockefeller Foundation, New York, 2014
Performance measurement for health system improvement, European Union Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Health Systems, Vilnius, 2013
What can health economists do for health systems?, 16th European Health Forum, Gastein Austria, 2013
Health system efficiency: what can health economists contribute?, Plenary, 9th World Congress, International Health Economics Association, Sydney, 2013
Strategic targets for public services: lessons from the English experience, Annual Tansley Lecture, University of Regina, Regina, Canada, 2013
Improving efficiency in health care to increase value for money: reality or illusion?, Italian Federation of Health Authorities, Rome, 2013
Principes économiques pour l’élaboration des choix en santé, Haute Autorité de Santé, Paris, 2012
Pay-for-performance in health services: where have we got to?, World Bank Interagency Working Group on Results-Based Financing, Geneva, 2012
What is the scope for efficiency gains and how can they be achieved?, Collège de la Haute Autorité de Santé, Paris, 2012
The role of primary health care in controlling the cost of specialist health care, Nordic Economic Forum on Challenges in Health Care Financing and Provision, Reykjavik, 2012
Healthcare in Europe: a macroeconomic perspective, Plenary, 8th National Healthcare Conference, Dublin, 2012
Private health insurance alongside a publicly funded system, International Workshop on the Role and Function of Private and Public Health Insurances, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, 2012
Measuring the impact and outcome of universal coverage, Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Bangkok, 2012
Health system performance assessment, World Health Organization and World Bank Flagship Programme,, Tallinn, 2011
Giving primary care physicians budgets to purchase their patients’ healthcare, World Health Summit, Berlin, 2011
Health system performance comparison: progress, challenges and opportunities, Symposium Leistungsfähigkeit von Gesundheitssystemen, University of Graz, Graz, 2011
The evolution of waiting time policy in England, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 2011
Giving primary care physicians budgets to purchase their patients’ healthcare, Vienna Healthcare Lectures, Vienna, 2011
Vignettes and health system responsiveness in cross-country comparative analyses, Royal Statistical Society and 58th World Statistics Congress, Dublin, 2011
Measuring performance for health system improvement, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Toronto, 2011
England: Europe’s health care reform laboratory?, International Monetary Fund, Paris, 2011
Towards a global charter for health information, Global Health Metrics and Evaluation Conference, Seattle, 2011
Health System Performance Comparison, World Health Organization First European Health Policy Forum, Andorra, 2011
Plenary: measuring and improving health system productivity, Collège des Economistes de la Santé annual conference, Lyon, 2010
Leadership and governance in seven developed health systems, Commonwealth Fund International Symposium on Health Policy, Washington DC, 2010
English Health Reforms: what is in them for Sweden?, Inaugural Conference of the Swedish Health Economics Association, Stockholm, 2010
Ethical implications of online health and telemedicine, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Law Society, London, 2010
How should economic evidence be put into practice?, World Health Summit, Berlin, 2010
Performance measurement for health system improvement, Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, 2010
System-wide efforts to reform incentives: the English experience, Commonwealth Fund Conference on Improving Quality of Health Care in the US and UK, Boston, 2010
Performance measurement: what we know, and what we don't, Conference on Quality Care, Everyone's Business, Royal College of Physicians, London, 2010
Plenary: using performance information for quality and efficiency improvement: the international experience, Veterans Health Administration Annual Conference, San Francisco, 2010
Plenary: paying for performance in health services: lessons from the UK experience, Caisse nationale de l'assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés, annual conference, Lyon, 2010
Do quality improvements in primary care reduce secondary care costs?, Swiss School of Public Health, Crans-Montana, 2010
Intersectoral action on the social determinants of health: an economic perspective, World Health Organization Conference on Intersectoral Action, Viña del Mar, Chile, 2010
Accountability and Health System Performance Assessment, World Health Organization Conference on Health System Performance Assessment, Ankara, 2009
Payment systems in English healthcare: effects on quality, efficiency and coordination, Commonwealth Fund International Symposium on Health Policy, Washington DC, 2009
Performance information for improved health, 6th Nestlé International Nutrition Symposium, Lausanne, 2009
Provider competition and efficiency in health care, World Health Organization Conference on Health Care Systems in Europe, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, 2009
Plenary: some recent innovations linking health services quality to costs, Norwegian Knowledge Center for Health Services Annual Conference, Bergen, 2009
Paying for performance in health services: lessons from the UK experience, World Bank, Washington DC, 2009
The link between health care spending and health outcomes: implications for the threshold, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, London, 2009
23rd Annual Health Services Research Lecture: does performance measurement improve the quality of care?, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, 2009
Health system performance: how does the UK shape up?, Lancet Health of the Nation Summit, London, 2009