Managing and measuring performance of health prevention services: a simulation-based approach

Purpose This study focuses on the application of performance management (PM) in health prevention services. Unlike other healthcare services that focus on individual health results, prevention activities aim at community-wide benefits, often related to the avoidance of negative health outcomes. This, coupled with delayed effects of prevention activities, external influences on results and multiple stakeholders, poses challenges for the management, measurement and accountability of the results achieved by healthcare organisations and systems. To address these challenges, the research proposes the adoption of simulation techniques, specifically system dynamics (SD), to enhance PM in the prevention sector. Design/methodology/approach SD is a methodological approach developed for modelling and simulating complex systems and experimenting with the models to design strategies and policies. It provides a systemic perspective and a set of conceptual tools that enable one to frame the structure and behaviour of complex, nonlinear, multi-loop feedback systems through an illustrative case focused on the management of primary and secondary prevention of chronic care conditions within a Beveridge healthcare system. Findings By employing SD, the study aims to provide decision-makers with the capability to understand the link between immediate outputs and long-term outcomes, facilitating the evaluation of alternative policy options and scenarios that are otherwise untestable due to the long latency of diseases, delayed impact of preventive actions and systemic fragmentation. Originality/value Through the development of an SD model, this research contributes to the field by offering a novel approach to overcoming the measurement and accountability obstacles in prevention as part of healthcare PM.