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The HealthStore Foundation supports clinics and pharmacies in the developing world using a franchise model: people in developing nations sign up as franchise operators, undergo training, and provide healthcare outlets conforming to the central organization's standards. We wanted to learn more about this organization (and thus named it a finalist) because its model appeals to us, for the following reasons:
- By giving franchise operators financial incentives, it may be possible to reach more areas, more quickly, than with a traditional approach.
- The model may simultaneously help improve the quality of health care and increase incomes (and standards of living) for franchise operators.
- The model is relatively simple, straightforward, and unified, and we hoped we would be able to gain a broad understanding of the HealthStore Foundation (more easily than for more complex organizations, such as most of our other finalists).
However, we were not able to get any sense of how HealthStore changes lives, either for its franchise operators or for their customers. We have data on what products were sold and how many people were treated (see Attachment B-10), but this is still a long way from knowing whether these products were used, what they were used for, who used them (and how badly they needed these products), and ultimately how HealthStore's activities have likely affected life outcomes.
The HealthStore Foundation has an intriguing model, and we are interested in learning more about it in the future; but knowing what we know, we can't be confident about its effect on people's lives.