Retrospective secondary data analysis to identify high-cost users in inpatient department of hospitals in Thailand, a middle-income country with universal healthcare coverage.

Objectives: The study aims to identify high-cost users (HCUs) in the inpatient departments of hospitals in Thailand including their common characteristics, patterns of healthcare utilisation and expenditure compared with low-cost users, and to explore potential factors associated with HCUs so the healthcare system can be prepared to support the HCUs including those who have increased chances of becoming HCUs.

Design And Setting: A retrospective secondary data analysis using hospitalisation data from Thailand's Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) obtained from the National Health Security Office over a 5-year period from October 2014 to September 2019 (fiscal year 2014-2018).

Participants: Study participants included Thai citizens who had at least one inpatient admission to hospitals under the UCS over the study period.

An Implementation Framework for Telemedicine to Address Noncommunicable Diseases in Thailand.

To maintain the continuity of noncommunicable disease (NCD) services and ascertain the health outcomes of patients with NCDs during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak in Thailand, various telemedicine services have been developed. To achieve this determination, the implementation framework has been constructed based on recommendations from multidisciplinary experts (Thai NCD Collaboration Group). Within the framework, all key elements are illustrated with their priority and expected collaborations.

Political economy of Thailand's tax-financed universal coverage scheme.

Problem: The challenge of implementing contributory health insurance among populations in the informal sector was a barrier to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in Thailand.

Approach: UHC was a political manifesto of the 2001 election campaign. A contributory system was not a feasible option to honour the political commitment.

Diabetes prevention and care in the universal health coverage context: The example of Thailand.

Universal health coverage (UHC) is a key policy issue in countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region. However, despite projections of significant increases in burden, there is little protection against the financial risks associated with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes. Thailand achieved UHC of all 67 million of the population in 2002, under three public health insurance schemes.

Achieving universal health coverage goals in Thailand: the vital role of strategic purchasing.

Strategic purchasing is one of the key policy instruments to achieve the universal health coverage (UHC) goals of improved and equitable access and financial risk protection. Given favourable outcomes of Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), this study synthesized strategic purchasing experiences in the National Health Security Office (NHSO) responsible for the UCS in contributing to achieving UHC goals. The UCS applied the purchaser-provider split concept where NHSO, as a purchaser, is in a good position to enforce accountability by public and private providers to the UCS beneficiaries, through active purchasing.

Monitoring and evaluating progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Thailand.

This paper is a country case study for the Universal Health Coverage Collection, organized by WHO. Walaiporn Patcharanarumol and colleagues illustrate progress towards UHC and its monitoring and evaluation in Thailand.

Comparison of health care professionals' and surveyors' opinions on problems and obstacles in implementing quality management system in Thailand: A national survey.

Objective: To explore problems and obstacles of hospitals in Thailand implementing quality management systems according to the hospital accreditation (HA) standards.

Design: Questionnaire survey.

Setting: Thirty-nine hospitals in all 13 regions of Thailand.