Approaches to Healthcare Quality Regulation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Experiences and Challenges

Governments generally use three main regulatory approaches—licensing, certification, and accreditation—to establish expectations for the competence of health care providers (including institutions) and for the quality of their services. This paper examines experience in the Latin American and Caribbean region with these approaches and presents the lessons and implications for future policy development, programming, and research. The report also discusses challenges to these approaches, including enforcement, monitoring and evaluating the impact of regulation, incentives for maintaining the quality of care, and regulating the growing private sector. An annex details experiences with quality regulation in Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean Community, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras (2005, 52 pages).

• Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health
• HIV/AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Malaria
• Reproductive Health and Family Planning
• Food and Nutrition

• Quality Improvement
• Health Systems Strengthening