Logo-ijhpm
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2019;8(1): 4-17. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2018.93
PMID: 30709098        PMCID: PMC6358649

Review Article

What’s Needed to Develop Strategic Purchasing in Healthcare? Policy Lessons from a Realist Review

Joe Sanderson 1 * , Chris Lonsdale 1, Russell Mannion 2

Cited by CrossRef:

1- Cahan E, McFarlane K, Segovia N, Chawla A, Wall J, Shea K. Does healthcare system device volume correlate with price paid for spinal implants: a cross-sectional analysis of a national purchasing database. BMJ Open. 2022;12(4):e057547 [Crossref]
2- Barouni M, Behzadi A, Fatahpour A. Strategic Purchasing Solutions in Line with Sustainable Financing of the Health System: A Scoping Review. Health Scope. 2025;14(2) [Crossref]
3- Pētersone M, Ketners K, Krieviņš D, Erins I. Strategic Purchasing and Health System Efficiency: Prospects for Health Sector Reform in Latvia. 2020;17:41 [Crossref]
4- Victor J, Paulo A. Transaction costs in healthcare: empirical evidence from Portuguese hospitals. Cogent Business & Management. 2023;10(2) [Crossref]
5- Mbachu C, Okeke C, Obayi C, Gatome-Munyua A, Olalere N, Ogbonna I, Uzochukwu B, Onwujekwe O. Supporting strategic health purchasing: a case study of annual health budgets from general tax revenue and social health insurance in Abia state, Nigeria. Health Econ Rev. 2021;11(1) [Crossref]
6- Gajadien C, Dohmen P, Eijkenaar F, Schut F, van Raaij E, Heijink R. Financial risk allocation and provider incentives in hospital–insurer contracts in The Netherlands. Eur J Health Econ. 2023;24(1):125 [Crossref]
7- Moradzadeh M, Karamouzian M, Najafizadeh S, Yazdi-Feyzabadi V, Haghdoost A. International Journal of Health Policy and Management (IJHPM): A Decade of Advancing Knowledge and Influencing Global Health Policy (2013-2023). Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:8124 [Crossref]
8- Motie M, Dehnavieh R, Kalavani K. Insurance and Improving Its Strategic Purchase in Iran. 2022;49(2):117 [Crossref]
9- Gatome-Munyua A, Sieleunou I, Sory O, Cashin C. Why Is Strategic Purchasing Critical for Universal Health Coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa?. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
10- Matinheikki J, Kenny K, Kauppi K, van Raaij E, Brandon-Jones A. Realising the promise of value-based purchasing: experimental evidence of medical device selection. IJOPM. 2024;44(13):100 [Crossref]
11- Barasa E, Mathauer I, Kabia E, Ezumah N, Mbau R, Honda A, Dkhimi F, Onwujekwe O, Phuong H, Hanson K. How do healthcare providers respond to multiple funding flows? A conceptual framework and options to align them. 2021;36(6):861 [Crossref]
12- Sanderson J, Lonsdale C, Mannion R. Inside the Black Box: Organisational Buying Behaviour and Strategic Purchasing in Healthcare: A Response to Recent Commentary. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2019;8(11):675 [Crossref]
13- Ezenduka C, Obikeze E, Uzochukwu B, Onwujekwe O. Examining healthcare purchasing arrangements for strategic purchasing in Nigeria: a case study of the Imo state healthcare system. Health Res Policy Sys. 2022;20(1) [Crossref]
14- Arantes A, Alhais A, Ferreira L. Application of a purchasing portfolio model to define medicine purchasing strategies: An empirical study. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. 2022;84:101318 [Crossref]
15- Sumankuuro J, Griffiths F, Koon A, Mapanga W, Maritim B, Mosam A, Goudge J. The Experiences of Strategic Purchasing of Healthcare in Nine Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Qualitative Review. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:7352 [Crossref]
16- Gatome-Munyua A, Sieleunou I, Barasa E, Ssengooba F, Issa K, Musange S, Osoro O, Makawia S, Boyi-Hounsou C, Amporfu E, Ezenwaka U. Applying the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework: Lessons from Nine African Countries. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
17- Goodman C, Witter S, Hellowell M, Allen L, Srinivasan S, Nixon S, Burney A, Bhattacharjee D, Cocozza A, Appleford G, Thabet A, Clarke D. Approaches, enablers and barriers to govern the private sector in health in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review. BMJ Glob Health. 2024;8(Suppl 5):e015771 [Crossref]
18- Thomas L, Robinson S, Burns S, Mitchell H, Begley A. Engaging health system, service and consumer representatives in the co-design of a multi-criteria decision-making framework for commissioning overweight and obesity programs and services. Health Res Policy Sys. 2025;23(1) [Crossref]
19- Tchouaket E, Karemere H, Sia D, Kapiteni W. An Analysis of the Social Impacts of a Health System Strengthening Program Based on Purchasing Health Services. J Epidemiol Glob Health. 2023;13(4):751 [Crossref]
20- Yaghoubian S, Jahani M, Farhadi Z, Mahmoudi G. Factors affecting health services strategic purchasing for breast cancer patients: a mixed study in Iran. Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2021;19(1) [Crossref]
21- Cashin C, Kimathi G, Otoo N, Bloom D, Gatome-Munyua A. SPARC the Change: What the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center Has Learned about Improving Strategic Health Purchasing in Africa. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
22- Hsu J, Jowett M, Mills A, Hanson K. What influences the impact of health financing reforms? Using qualitative comparative analysis to identify patterns in health financing systems and their effects on financial protection. SSM - Health Systems. 2025;4:100055 [Crossref]
23- Kiendrébéogo J, Tapsoba C, Kafando Y, Kaboré I, Sory O, Yaméogo S. The Landscape of Strategic Health Purchasing for Universal Health Coverage in Burkina Faso: Insights from Five Major Health Financing Schemes. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
24- Hanson K, Barasa E, Honda A, Panichkriangkrai W, Patcharanarumol W. Strategic Purchasing: The Neglected Health Financing Function for Pursuing Universal Health Coverage in Lowand Middle-Income Countries Comment on "What’s Needed to Develop Strategic Purchasing in Healthcare? Policy Lessons from a Realist Review". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2019;8(8):501 [Crossref]
25- Ghoddoosinejad J, Sokhanvar M, Ameri H, Hosseinzadeh M, Mastaneh M, Keshtkar N, Arab-Zozani M. Challenges of strategic purchasing in healthcare systems of developing countries: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. J Public Health (Berl). 2024;32(2):247 [Crossref]
26- Kachapila M, Kigozi J, Oppong R. Exploring the roles of players in strategic purchasing for healthcare in Africa—a scoping review. 2023;38(1):97 [Crossref]
27- Kristensen S, Anselmi L, Brown G, Fichera E, Kovacs R, Loewenson R, Singh N, Midzi N, Mustapha F, White L, Borghi J. Pay for performance at a crossroads: lessons from taking a global perspective. IJPSM. 2023;36(6/7):592 [Crossref]
28- Marshall A, Witthayapipopsakul W, Chotchoungchatchai S, Wangbanjongkun W, Tangcharoensathien V, Ravi S. Contracting the private health sector in Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023;3(4):e0000799 [Crossref]
29- Moran V, Allen P, Sanderson M, McDermott I, Osipovic D. Challenges of maintaining accountability in networks of health and care organisations: A study of developing Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships in the English National Health Service. Social Science & Medicine. 2021;268:113512 [Crossref]
30- Matovu F, Gatome-Munyua A, Sebaggala R. Has Strategic Purchasing Led to Improvements in Health Systems? A Narrative Review of Literature on Strategic Purchasing. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
31- Cashin C, Gatome-Munyua A. The Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework: A Practical Approach to Describing, Assessing, and Improving Strategic Purchasing for Universal Health Coverage. Health Systems & Reform. 2022;8(2) [Crossref]
32- Paul E, Brown G, Ridde V. Misunderstandings and ambiguities in strategic purchasing in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Health Planning & Management. 2020;35(5):1001 [Crossref]