Mutual health organizations (MHOs) are voluntary membership organizations providing health insurance services to their members. MHOs aim to increase access to health care by reducing out-of-pocket payments faced by households. We used multiple regression analysis of household survey data from Ghana, Mali and Senegal to investigate the determinants of enrollment in MHOs, and the impact of MHO me...

Introduction Hospitalization in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) can have negative bio-psychological effects for the patients but also for their families; There is paucity in literature, though, regarding the psychological support of underage family members, having limited access to the ICU. Mobile health (mHealth) applications have been extensively used in health care services, however, there is ...

BACKGROUND The quality of care includes several aspects which may be influenced by social-economic status. This study analyzes hospitalizations for several conditions, such as chronic diseases, cancer and appendectomy, in Italians and immigrant people living in Italy with the aim to evaluate possible inequalities in the quality of health care services due to migrant status, gender and geographi...

Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) are conditions where the provision of ambulatory care may affect the probability of hospitalization or the severity of the disease at the time of hospitalization. Population-based measurement of ACSCs can focus attention on aspects of ambulatory care that merit strengthening to improve access, quality, or patient compliance to achieve better outcomes ...

Patient engagement has been identified as a key strategy for improving patient outcomes. In this paper, we describe the development and pilot testing of a web-based patient centered toolkit (PCTK) prototype to improve access to health information and to engage hospitalized patients and caregivers in the plan of care. Individual and group interviews were used to identify plan of care functional ...

BACKGROUND Compared to coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, the relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) is less well established. We examined the association between SES and incidence of hospitalization with PAD and explored whether this association can be explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors and healthcare access. ...

Author Contributions:Drs Mendu andWaikar had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design:Mendu, Aizer, Steele, Waikar. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors. Drafting of the manuscript: Steele, Mendu. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intelle...