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Rewarding provider performance to enable a healthy start to life : evidence from Argentina's Plan Nacer

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  • Gertler, Paul
  • Giovagnoli, Paula
  • Martinez, Sebastian

Abstract

Argentina's Plan Nacer provides insurance for maternal and child health care to uninsured families. The program allocates funding to provinces based on enrollment of beneficiaries and adds performance incentives based on indicators of the use and quality of maternal and child health care services and health outcomes. The provinces use these resources to pay health facilities to provide maternal and child health care services to beneficiaries. This paper analyzes the impact of Plan Nacer Healton birth outcomes. The analysis uses data from the universe of birth records in seven Argentine provinces for 2004 to 2008 and exploits the geographic phasing in of Plan Nacer over time. The paper finds that the program increases the use and quality of prenatal care as measured by the number of visits and the probability of receiving a tetanus vaccine. Beneficiaries'probability of low birth-weight is estimated to be reduced by 19 percent. Beneficiaries have a 74 percent lower chance of in-hospital neonatal mortality in larger facilities and approximately half this reduction comes from preventing low birth weight and half from better postnatal care. The analysis finds that the cost of saving a disability-adjusted life year through the program was $814, which is highly cost-effective compared with Argentina's $6,075 gross domestic product per capita over this period. Although there are small negative spillover effects on prenatal care utilization of non-beneficiary populations in clinics covered by Plan Nacer, no spillover is found onto their birth outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Gertler, Paul & Giovagnoli, Paula & Martinez, Sebastian, 2014. "Rewarding provider performance to enable a healthy start to life : evidence from Argentina's Plan Nacer," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6884, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6884
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nazmul Chaudhury & Jeffrey Hammer & Michael Kremer & Karthik Muralidharan & F. Halsey Rogers, 2006. "Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
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    3. Gertler, Paul & Vermeerch, Christel, 2013. "Using Performance Incentives to Improve Medical Care Productivity and Health Outcomes," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt9qn9q7ph, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    4. Miller, Grant & Luo, Renfu & Zhang, Linxiu & Sylvia, Sean & Shi, Yaojiang & Foo, Patricia & Zhao, Qiran & Martorell, Reynaldo & Medina, Alexis & Rozelle, Scott, 2012. "Effectiveness of provider incentives for anaemia reduction in rural China: a cluster randomised trial," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 345, pages 1-10.
    5. Grant Miller & Kimberly Singer Babiarz, 2013. "Pay-for-Performance Incentives in Low- and Middle-Income Country Health Programs," NBER Working Papers 18932, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. de Walque, Damien & Gertler, Paul J. & Bautista-Arredondo, Sergio & Kwan, Ada & Vermeersch, Christel & de Dieu Bizimana, Jean & Binagwaho, Agnès & Condo, Jeanine, 2015. "Using provider performance incentives to increase HIV testing and counseling services in Rwanda," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-9.
    2. Pablo A. Celhay & Paul J. Gertler & Paula Giovagnoli & Christel Vermeersch, 2019. "Long-Run Effects of Temporary Incentives on Medical Care Productivity," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 92-127, July.
    3. Alzúa, María Laura & Katzkowicz, Noemí, 2021. "Pay for performance for prenatal care and newborn health: Evidence from a developing country," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Mr. Mauricio Vargas & Santiago Garriga, 2015. "Explaining Inequality and Poverty Reduction in Bolivia," IMF Working Papers 2015/265, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Singh, Neha S. & Kovacs, Roxanne J. & Cassidy, Rachel & Kristensen, Søren R. & Borghi, Josephine & Brown, Garrett W., 2021. "A realist review to assess for whom, under what conditions and how pay for performance programmes work in low- and middle-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    6. Boone, Claire E & Celhay, Pablo & Gertler, Paul & Gracner, Tadeja & Rodriguez, Josefina, 2022. "How scheduling systems with automated appointment reminders improve health clinic efficiency," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Amira El-Shal & Patricia Cubi-Molla & Mireia Jofre-Bonet, 2023. "Discontinuation of performance-based financing in primary health care: impact on family planning and maternal and child health," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 109-132, March.

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    Keywords

    Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Population Policies; Disease Control&Prevention; Health Systems Development&Reform; Adolescent Health;
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