Guidance on priority setting in health care (GPS-Health)
GPS-Health is a checklist developed to help decision makers include fairness and equity in health care priority setting, especially when making choices beyond what cost-effectiveness alone suggests. It helps ensure that vulnerable or disadvantaged groups are considered and that health decisions are more just and inclusive.
At a glance
Use when
Making health care priority decisions where equity and fairness are concerns; interpreting or reporting cost-effectiveness analyses; designing health policies affecting vulnerable populations.
Avoid when
When only cost-effectiveness is required; in contexts where equity considerations are explicitly excluded from decision-making frameworks.
Inputs
Findings from cost-effectiveness analyses, population health data, information on social determinants and vulnerable groups, details on disease burden and intervention impacts.
Outputs
A structured assessment of equity considerations to inform priority-setting decisions in health care policy and planning.
How it works
Developed by the World Health Organization through expert consultations and stakeholder validation, GPS-Health provides a structured checklist of equity criteria to complement cost-effectiveness analysis in health care priority setting. It integrates normative concepts identified via systematic review and refined through three steps: identification of methods and concepts, expert assessment leading to a draft checklist, and broad stakeholder validation. The criteria cover disease-related factors (e.g., severity, capacity to benefit), social group characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity), and non-health consequences (e.g., financial protection, productivity, caregiving impact).
- HTA domains
- Clinical Effectiveness, Costs & Economic Evaluation, Patient and Social Aspects
- Categories
- AppraisalContext & Implementation
- Assumptions
- Cost-effectiveness analysis alone is insufficient for equitable decision making; incorporating explicit equity criteria leads to fairer health resource allocation; stakeholders value transparency and inclusiveness in priority setting.
- Strengths
- Developed through systematic review and extensive expert and stakeholder consultation,Provides a comprehensive and structured approach to equity in priority setting,Applicable at both national and sub-national levels,Improves transparency and accountability in health decision making
- Limitations
- Does not provide quantitative weighting of criteria, leaving trade-offs to subjective judgment,Implementation may be challenging in settings with limited data on equity dimensions,Requires political will and institutional capacity to operationalize
- Also known as
- GPS-Health, Guidance for Priority Setting in Health Care
Questions this answers
- › What equity criteria should be considered alongside cost-effectiveness in health care decisions?
- › How can decision makers ensure fair treatment of disadvantaged populations in resource allocation?
- › What non-health impacts of interventions should be accounted for in priority setting?
- › How can cost-effectiveness analyses be reported to better reflect equity considerations?
- › Which dimensions of disease burden go beyond standard effectiveness measures?
- › How can social determinants like income, location, or race be integrated into health care prioritization?
References & sources
Related methods
Similar by meaning
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