Strategic Health Systems Management Training Course

Duration 10 days 18 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Health Ministry Directors, Hospital and Health Network Executives and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HSM-028

Before you join: Participants should have at least three years of experience in health policy, service delivery, public health, hospital management, health financing, insurance, development programming or related advisory work.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Health systems leaders must improve access, quality, equity and financial protection while managing constrained budgets, workforce shortages, fragmented providers, procurement failures and political pressure. Decisions in one part of the system affect others: a benefit-package change alters purchasing, medicines demand, staffing requirements and household costs. Senior managers need a disciplined way to diagnose these interdependencies, choose priorities and convert policy intent into funded, measurable action.

This advanced course examines health systems as connected arrangements of governance, financing, service delivery, workforce, medicines, information and community accountability. Participants use the WHO health system building blocks, Universal Health Coverage framework, political economy analysis, strategic purchasing, health technology assessment, quality improvement and results-based management. They learn to assess system performance, set strategic priorities, design service-delivery models, strengthen workforce and supply arrangements, develop financing options, manage reform risks and track implementation through practical indicators.

Instructor-led sessions combine focused briefings with health ministry, public hospital, insurance purchaser and humanitarian health cases. Participants work with realistic planning data, stakeholder scenarios, budget constraints and performance reports. Throughout the course, each participant develops a health systems strategy pack for a current organisational, regional or national priority. The final pack includes a system diagnosis, strategic choices, implementation roadmap, governance structure, scorecard and risk register suitable for review with senior decision-makers.

The course is suited to experienced health-sector professionals responsible for policy, planning, commissioning, service improvement, financing, programme delivery or institutional reform. It is appropriate for public health authorities, hospital networks, insurers, development partners, NGOs and private providers operating within regulated health systems.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose health system constraints using WHO building blocks, UHC dimensions and causal analysis
  • Develop a health systems strategy linking population needs, priorities, financing and service delivery
  • Apply political economy analysis to assess stakeholder power, incentives and reform feasibility
  • Design strategic purchasing and provider-payment arrangements aligned with quality and equity goals
  • Construct implementation roadmaps with accountable owners, milestones, budgets and risk controls
  • Use health technology assessment criteria to support transparent coverage and investment decisions
  • Build performance scorecards using outcome, output, equity, quality and financial indicators
  • Present a complete health systems strategy pack for senior stakeholder review

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce credible system reform proposals for senior health-sector decision-makers
  • Interpret financing, quality and access trade-offs with greater confidence
  • Lead cross-functional planning discussions between policy, clinical and finance teams
  • Assess whether proposed reforms are politically feasible and operationally deliverable
  • Create measurable implementation plans rather than high-level policy statements

For your organisation

  • Improved prioritisation of investments against population need, equity and budget constraints
  • Clearer links between policy goals, provider incentives and service-delivery performance
  • Stronger governance arrangements for multi-agency health reform programmes
  • Earlier identification of workforce, procurement, financing and stakeholder risks
  • More useful executive reporting through balanced health system performance measures

Course modules

18 modules over 10 days

Participants can diagnose core health system performance problems using recognised system frameworks.

  • WHO health system building blocks mapped to national performance constraints
  • UHC service coverage, financial protection and quality trade-offs analysed
  • Population health outcomes distinguished from service outputs and utilisation measures
  • System boundaries defined across public, private and community providers
  • Stakeholder maps expose authority, incentives, interests and accountability gaps
  • Problem statements link observed failures to measurable system consequences

Participants can define priority health needs and assess distributional consequences of strategic choices.

  • Burden of disease data interpreted using DALYs, mortality and prevalence
  • Equity stratifiers applied by income, geography, gender, disability and age
  • Needs assessments distinguish expressed demand from unmet clinical need
  • Concentration curves reveal unequal use of essential health services
  • Priority-setting criteria balance severity, effectiveness, equity, affordability and feasibility
  • Benefit-package gaps identified through population and service utilisation analysis

Participants can assess governance arrangements and political factors affecting health system reform.

  • Political economy analysis identifies winners, losers, veto players and allies
  • Authority matrices clarify ministerial, purchaser, provider and regulator responsibilities
  • Principal-agent problems examined within decentralised health service arrangements
  • Regulatory instruments compared: licensing, accreditation, contracting and price controls
  • Conflict-of-interest controls assessed for purchasing, procurement and clinical governance
  • Reform coalitions planned around credible incentives and stakeholder engagement

Participants can formulate strategic choices supported by a clear theory of change.

  • Strategic issues framed from diagnosis findings, mandates and resource realities
  • Theory of Change links interventions, assumptions, outputs and intended outcomes
  • Strategic objectives written with outcome measures and defined time horizons
  • Scenario planning tests strategy choices against fiscal and epidemiological uncertainty
  • Option appraisal compares expected impact, cost, risk and implementation capacity
  • Balanced Scorecard perspectives adapted for health system strategic priorities

Participants can evaluate financing arrangements and develop financially credible strategic options.

  • Health financing functions distinguished: revenue collection, pooling and purchasing
  • Fiscal space assessed through macroeconomic, budgetary and efficiency opportunities
  • Out-of-pocket expenditure analysed for impoverishment and catastrophic payment risks
  • Pool fragmentation assessed against cross-subsidy and risk-sharing requirements
  • Medium-term expenditure frameworks connect health priorities with budget ceilings
  • 13-week cash forecasts identify liquidity pressures in provider payment cycles

Participants can design purchasing approaches that align provider incentives with policy objectives.

  • Strategic purchasing decisions specify services, providers, prices and accountability
  • Capitation payment rates adjusted for risk, geography and enrolled populations
  • Diagnosis-Related Group payments examined for coding, volume and quality incentives
  • Fee-for-service controls address induced demand and expenditure escalation
  • Performance-based payments tied to verified quality and equity indicators
  • Provider contracts define service standards, reporting requirements and remedies

Participants can apply transparent criteria to coverage and investment decisions.

  • Health technology assessment considers effectiveness, safety, cost and equity
  • Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios interpreted against stated decision thresholds
  • Budget impact analysis estimates affordability over defined planning periods
  • Evidence-to-decision frameworks document values, uncertainty and implementation considerations
  • Essential medicines lists reviewed against disease burden and treatment guidelines
  • Coverage decisions distinguish clinical appropriateness from political demand

Participants can design service-delivery models matched to population needs and provider capacity.

  • Care pathways map prevention, diagnosis, treatment, referral and follow-up
  • Primary care functions defined for continuity, coordination and first contact
  • Referral systems assessed through gatekeeping, transport, feedback and counter-referral
  • Service network plans match facility roles with catchment population needs
  • Integrated care models connect chronic disease, mental health and social care
  • Patient flow analysis identifies bottlenecks, queues and avoidable admissions

Participants can evaluate facility network performance and identify service rationalisation options.

  • Hospital bed capacity analysed using occupancy, turnover and average stay
  • Facility classification aligns clinical capability with staffing and equipment standards
  • Service rationalisation tests safety, access, volume and financial sustainability
  • Clinical governance structures connect board oversight, medical leadership and quality
  • Cost-centre analysis separates fixed, variable and step costs
  • Capital investment cases compare replacement, expansion and alternative service models

Participants can develop workforce strategies linked to service models and productivity requirements.

  • Workforce demand forecasts derive staffing needs from service volumes
  • Workload Indicators of Staffing Need applied to facility workload data
  • Skill-mix analysis compares task requirements with available professional cadres
  • Retention strategies address remuneration, supervision, career paths and working conditions
  • Task shifting assessed against competency standards, regulation and patient safety
  • Rural staffing packages combine financial incentives, housing and professional support

Participants can identify supply system weaknesses and specify practical control measures.

  • Quantification methods combine consumption, morbidity and service-statistics forecasting
  • ABC-VEN analysis prioritises inventory control by value and clinical criticality
  • Procurement plans align lead times, framework agreements and budget releases
  • Stock status dashboards track availability, expiry, losses and order fulfilment
  • Cold-chain controls protect vaccines and temperature-sensitive essential medicines
  • Supplier performance reviews assess delivery reliability, quality and contract compliance

Participants can specify information requirements, data controls and decision-use arrangements.

  • Routine health information systems assessed for completeness, timeliness and accuracy
  • Data quality audits test verification factors, consistency and outlier patterns
  • Interoperability requirements define identifiers, standards, interfaces and data ownership
  • District Health Information Software 2 reports interpreted for management decisions
  • Data governance policies address consent, access controls, retention and accountability
  • Digital health investments appraised for workflow fit, costs and adoption risks

Participants can design quality improvement arrangements with measurable safety and service standards.

  • Donabedian structure, process and outcome measures applied to quality assessment
  • Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles target defined service performance gaps
  • Clinical audit compares documented practice against approved standards
  • Root cause analysis investigates serious incidents and recurring safety failures
  • Patient experience measures capture access, communication, dignity and responsiveness
  • Quality dashboards combine infection, mortality, readmission and waiting-time measures

Participants can incorporate preparedness and continuity measures into health system strategy.

  • All-hazards risk assessments rank epidemic, climate, conflict and infrastructure threats
  • Incident command structures define authority during health emergency operations
  • Business continuity plans protect essential services during disruptive events
  • Surge capacity plans address beds, workforce, oxygen and supply reserves
  • After-action reviews convert emergency findings into corrective action plans
  • Resilience indicators track redundancy, adaptability, learning and recovery capacity

Participants can convert strategic priorities into sequenced, accountable implementation plans.

  • Work breakdown structures translate strategic initiatives into manageable deliverables
  • Critical path analysis identifies dependencies, bottlenecks and schedule exposure
  • RACI matrices assign responsible, accountable, consulted and informed roles
  • Change impact assessments identify affected groups, processes and resistance sources
  • Communications plans specify messages, channels, timing and feedback mechanisms
  • Implementation readiness reviews test governance, capacity, funding and data availability

Participants can build performance systems that support accountability and adaptive management.

  • Results frameworks connect inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impact
  • Indicator reference sheets define formulas, sources, frequency and disaggregation
  • Baseline studies establish starting values before intervention implementation
  • Dashboard design prioritises decision-useful indicators, thresholds and trend comparisons
  • Evaluation questions distinguish attribution, contribution, efficiency and sustainability
  • Quarterly performance reviews convert evidence into documented management actions

Participants can manage strategic, operational and fiduciary risks throughout reform delivery.

  • Risk registers record causes, consequences, ratings, owners and treatments
  • Risk appetite statements distinguish tolerable exposure from escalation triggers
  • Fraud risk assessments examine procurement, claims, payroll and facility revenue
  • Assurance maps identify management controls, internal audit and external oversight
  • Sensitivity analysis tests programme viability under funding and demand changes
  • Escalation protocols specify reporting thresholds for material reform risks

Participants can build, review and present a complete health systems strategy pack for a defined reform priority.

  • System diagnosis synthesises population, financing, service and governance evidence
  • Strategic choices prioritised using impact, feasibility, equity and affordability criteria
  • Theory of Change connects interventions with assumptions and measurable outcomes
  • Costed roadmap assigns milestones, accountable owners and required resources
  • Performance scorecard specifies indicators, targets, review cycles and data sources
  • Risk register and stakeholder plan support credible implementation assurance

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Health systems diagnostic template
  2. Health financing options model
  3. Strategic purchasing contract checklist
  4. Theory of Change and results framework
  5. Costed implementation roadmap
  6. Health system performance scorecard

Who should attend

  • Health Ministry Directors — responsible for translating policy commitments into funded system reforms
  • Hospital and Health Network Executives — accountable for service integration, quality and resource allocation
  • Health Insurance and Purchasing Managers — responsible for provider contracts, benefits and payment incentives
  • Public Health Programme Leaders — managing priority programmes within wider system constraints
  • Development Partner and NGO Managers — designing health investments aligned with national system plans
  • Health Strategy and Planning Advisers — preparing evidence, options and implementation plans for leaders

Skills and tools covered

Health systems diagnosisStrategic health financingService delivery designHealth governancePerformance scorecardsReform implementation

Tools and standards

WHO Health System Building Blocks, Universal Health Coverage Cube, Theory of Change, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short expert briefings, facilitated case work, group exercises, simulations and individual application planning. Cases reflect ministry reform programmes, hospital-network pressures, insurer purchasing decisions and donor-funded health initiatives. Participants interpret service, financing and quality data; test policy choices against stakeholder interests; and develop practical planning documents. Faculty feedback focuses on the assumptions, evidence, sequencing and accountability required for workable health system reforms. Classroom delivery is available in 50+ cities, with equivalent live online facilitation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of experience in health policy, service delivery, public health, hospital management, health financing, insurance, development programming or related advisory work. They should be comfortable reading budgets, performance reports and policy documents, and should understand the basic roles of health ministries, providers, payers and regulators. Prior exposure to strategic planning is helpful. No clinical qualification, economics degree, advanced statistics training or prior use of formal health technology assessment methods is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have professional experience in a health-sector role such as policy, planning, hospital management, insurance, public health or programme delivery. The course assumes familiarity with common health-sector terminology but does not require a clinical qualification or economics degree.

Bring a current challenge, strategy, performance report, service plan or reform initiative from your organisation if you can share it appropriately. Participants use their own context to develop a health systems strategy pack during the course.

It is designed for experienced managers and advisers who influence health policy, financing, service delivery, purchasing, quality or institutional reform. It is less suitable for people seeking an introductory public health or clinical management course.

Hospital management focuses mainly on facility operations, while public health courses often focus on population interventions and epidemiology. This course addresses the relationships among governance, financing, purchasing, workforce, service networks, information and quality across the wider system.

The methods are applied to a live or realistic reform priority, such as improving primary care access, redesigning provider payments or strengthening medicine availability. You leave with planning materials that can be refined with colleagues and used in management or policy discussions.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first part develops diagnosis, governance, financing and service-design methods; the later sessions focus on implementation, performance management, risk control and the capstone strategy pack.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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