Health systems can be understood through five policy control knobs that governments and institutions adjust to shape system performance. Based on the “Getting Health Reform Right” framework by Roberts, Hsiao, Berman, and Reich, each knob represents a major lever of health policy—financing, payment, organization, regulation, and persuasion & behavior—whose configuration drives measurable changes in intermediate performance and ultimate population health goals.
Click any control knob on the left to explore its policy scenarios and see how different configurations affect system performance. Click any performance measure or goal to learn what it represents and how it is measured at the population level.
The outcome ratings shown on each knob page are informed by empirical literature but are not deterministic predictions. The influence of any policy change is context-specific and both implementation- and path-dependent—the same reform can produce markedly different results depending on institutional capacity, existing market structure, political economy, and sequencing with other reforms.