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3. To build and sustain partnerships with key players in the health system, the purchaser
should promote cross-departmental and multi-sectoral collaboration
beyond public and private sectors in health programmes (Chu et al.,
2019). Specifically, the design of the Scheme should address intricate stakeholder
dynamics between key actors that include the Government, development partners,
providers (capacity and willingness to engage) and users (preferences, beliefs,
awareness) (Nachtnebel et al., 2015; Wong et al., 2015).

a. The Government and the purchaser should engage with industry
stakeholders, such as from the pharmaceutical industry and
insurance industry, to garner perspectives of how to improve population
health and meet the growing health demand, as showcased in Chapter 4.1.
Consideration should be given to the current practices of both industries, as
insurance companies have begun incorporating prevalent chronic disease
management into insurance products. Additionally, pharmaceutical companies
have different guidelines and prices when supplying drugs to doctors in private
sector, which has created challenges for increasing the uptake of PPP
programmes by private service providers. Thus, exchanging experiences with and
gaining insights from commercial entities will broaden the Government’s
perspective on how to incentivise private sector usage among the public and the
participation of private service providers in the Scheme.

b. The Government should consult with private sector providers to ensure that they
are offered a role in defining the benefit package, payment mechanisms, and
actively engage them in provider reforms that potentially promote the achievement
of high service quality.

c. To increase purchaser and provider transparency, and also allowing patients to
make informed decisions on their choice of medication purchase, the
Government and the purchaser should work with the private
sector to publicise and disseminate the costs of drugs available
in both the public and private sectors.

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