2025 CONFERENCE THEMES

• Innovations in Quality and Performance Measurement

  Evaluating health system performance requires an understanding of the care received by patients over time and across conditions. Yet, data on quality of care is sparse, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health system performance measurement has focused on health intervention coverage and on measuring inputs to care (i.e., measuring the availability of medicine, supplies, equipment and human resources). In high-income countries as well as LMICs, health system quality and performance measurement face a myriad of challenges including lack of standardization, a focus on process measures rather than outcomes, limited patient-reported measures, and fragmented metrics. We invite submissions on research related to new or underused measures, methods, or data sources for assessing quality and performance measurement.

• Test of Improvement at Scale

  Addressing the wide-ranging, entrenched deficits in health system performance around the world is unlikely to be achieved through quick fixes or micro-level interventions conducted at the provider or clinic level. Despite this, much of today’s health system research is dominated by micro-level studies, such as those intended to alter provider behavior, which are difficult to scale and sustain over time. Health systems, as complex adaptive systems, function at multiple interconnected levels making small-scale interventions inadequate to the task; evolution of the structures that underpin the system will be required. This theme intends to identify and explore new and emerging approaches to structural and system-level reforms that operate on the foundations of the health system at national and sub-national levels. We welcome research that rigorously evaluates the impacts and costs of improvement approaches on health, population confidence, patient experience, financial protection and other performance goals. 

• Effective Policy Translation

  Effectively engaging and activating diverse health system stakeholders requires skilled translation of evidence, compelling communication, and nuanced understanding of social, cultural, and political contexts. Successful policy translation is built upon a shared understanding of health system problems, mutual trust, and diverse and reinforcing sources of evidence. This theme seeks new research and insight on how health system researchers can best communicate new findings, build relationships with key stakeholders (including policymakers, politicians, advocacy organizations, and civil society), encourage policy conversations based on cutting-edge evidence, and shift the policy window towards large-scale reform. Best practices for knowledge dissemination towards improving health system performance are also welcome.