Classification of Health Care Functions (ICHA-HC)

Within the health accounting framework, the underlying principle may be formulated as “what is consumed has been provided and financed”. Clearly, there is no one-to-one relationship between health care functions and the provision and financing categories. The same type of health care goods and services can be consumed from different types of providers and at the same time purchased using various types of financing schemes. But to achieve the tri-axial perspective (consumption-provisionfinancing), the starting point is to measure consumption (see Chapter 4), which in a health functional approach describes the direct consumption by the population according to the type of health purpose. The boundaries of health care are set based on this consumption purpose. It is therefore important to have a clear understanding of what consumption with a health purpose is, and which are the relevant categories to be identified.