Difference between Plans and Policies !

Plans and policies are integral part of any health system or organization. Although both of look pretty similar, there are some major differences between them which is must to know.

Plans	Policies
Plan is a roadmap to achieve the goal	Policies are the guidelines/set of principles which guide the concerned authority in its course of action
Planning is about making plans on how to achieve the objective	Policy is the guideline to achieve the objective
Plan is a course of action intended for future	Policy is a set of rules and regulations
It is set of future actions which are needed to achieve the objective	It is set of principles which are needed to govern the future actions
It is made for both short term and long term objective accomplishment	It is made considering the long term impact on the changing conditions and situations
It usually deals with complex and multi-sectoral problems	It usually deals with unisectoral problems and simple problems
Plans are made with moderate consideration to the analytic and quantitative techniques	Policies are made with huge emphasis and consideration to the analytic and quantitative technique like cost benefit analysis, statistical analysis etc
Plans are made at all levels from strategic level to operational level	These are made by the senior level management
Plans are made within the boundary of the policies	Policies are high level strategic governance
Planning is the work that we do considering the policy	Policies are set of rules around which we work