The Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Agency (BPJS-K), with support from the World Bank and USAID, launched the Innovative Financing for Tuberculosis pilot project in six cities with high TB burden — Medan, Jakarta, Bogor, Semarang, Surabaya, and Denpasar — on August 29, 2023. The pilot project uses a performance-based provider payment mechanism that incentivizes both public and private primary health care providers to find more tuberculosis (TB) cases, report them and then retain them until the treatment is completed. In line with national priority health programs, the model aims to accelerate TB program coverage. The intervention is being implemented between July 2023 and March 2024. The pilot project was formulated by analytics funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through the Advance UHC Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
The project is a key part of the Indonesia Strengthening National TB Response Program for Results (PforR) which aims to improve coverage, quality and efficiency of TB programs through three results areas — improving accountability of sub-national level in TB service delivery, increasing involvement of primary private healthcare providers, and utilizing digital technologies.
The pilot includes activities from all three results areas of the PforR. It requires participating health facilities to meet readiness criteria to provide TB services. It tests incentives through provider payment of Indonesia’s health insurance program. Lastly, it provides access, especially among private primary health care providers, to World Health Organization recommended diagnostic tests for TB (GeneXpert). The resulting improvements to the TB information system also support the implementation and monitoring of the pilot scheme.