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This course introduces the main challenges faced by contemporary health systems in pursuing quality of care, sustainability, and equity. These dimensions are often discussed separately, but in practice they are closely interconnected and require balancing different priorities. 
The course provides an overview of key concepts and frameworks used to describe and assess health system performance. It draws primarily on a health management perspective, complemented by insights from public health, health services research, clinical practice, and health policy.
The structure includes an introductory module, followed by three modules focused on quality, sustainability, and equity. Each module combines essential concepts with selected case studies from the Italian context, illustrating how these challenges are addressed in real-world settings and how different professional perspectives contribute to decision-making. 
Topics covered include performance measurement, variation in care, resource allocation, and differences in access and outcomes across populations. 
By the end of the course, participants will be familiar with the main dimensions used to analyse health systems and will be able to interpret selected examples of policies and practices related to quality, sustainability, and equity in health. 

• Describe the concepts of quality, sustainability, and equity in health systems and explain how they relate to each other in different contexts
• Identify and interpret key elements of health system performance, including variation in care, resource allocation, and access to services
• Describe the main tools used to monitor and evaluate performance (e.g. benchmarking systems, indicators, PREMs and PROMs)
• Distinguish between avoidable and warranted variation and discuss their implications for quality and equity
• Understand basic approaches to priority setting and resource allocation in conditions of limited resources
• Interpret selected real-world case studies from the Italian context, recognising how policies and governance mechanisms address quality, sustainability, and equity
• Apply an interdisciplinary perspective to analyse health system challenges, integrating contributions from health management, public health, clinical practice, engineering, and health policy and regulation 

• Undergraduate students in medicine and management with an interest in public health, health management, or related fields
• PhD students and postgraduate students in public health, health management, or related fields 

The course is free of charge. An attendance certificate will be issued to learners who successfully complete the required activities.