Accountable care using global payment with performance bonuses has shown promise in controlling spending growth and improving care. This study examined how an early model, the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) established in 2009 by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), has affected care for mental illness. We compared spending and use for enrollees in AQC organizations that did an...

such as health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations, have become popular in recent decades because of their ability to lower consumers’ healthcare costs while increasing providers’ throughput. These organizations function as healthcare intermediaries or, in a technical language, as platforms in the two-sided market for medical care, with the two sides being healthcare ...

One underutilized method for reducing health disparities and training culturally competent health care workers is the engagement of undergraduate student health organizations in conducting health screenings, promotion, and health education outreach activities in in underserved racial/ethnic communities. We conducted a needs assessment of 14 predominantly racial/ethnic minority undergraduate stu...

In the light of an ageing society with shrinking economic resources, deinstitutionalization of elderly care is a general trend. As a result, homecare is increasing, and increasingly shared between different health and social care organizations. In this thesis, it is argued that in order to be truly patient-centred, care that is shared between different care provider organizations needs to be in...

Jungian analysis is generally a long-term process, but the realities of modern health care makes a brief therapy model necessary. In this article I will discuss how I, as a Jungian psychoanalyst, conceptualize and use a Jungian analytic approach in brief therapy. Ten to twenty sessions is often the limit covered by insurance, with many managed care organizations and HMO’s reducing the number to...

Primary care services provide continuing and coordinating care, cater to most health care needs, and serve as a point of first contact with the health system. This article addresses the issue of government ownership of primary care. Ownership confers governance responsibility (ultimate control) for an organization, and accountability for its actions. Primary care organizations can be classed as...

The challenges facing efforts in Africa to increase access to antiretroviral HIV treatment underscore the urgent need to strengthen national health systems across the continent. However, donor aid to developing countries continues to be disproportionately channeled to international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) rather than to ministries of health. The rapid proliferation of NGOs has prov...

This Policy Brief presents characteristics contributing to the formation of four accountable care organizations (ACOs) that serve rural Medicare beneficiaries. Doing so provides considerations for provider organizations contemplating creating rural-based ACOs. Key Findings. (1) Previous organizational integration and risk-sharing experience facilitated ACO formation. (2) Use of an electronic he...

BACKGROUND During the 1980s, approximately three million people migrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan and sought refuge in several cities including the city of Karachi. After the initial settlement of the refugees, the international organizations transitioned the health care of these refugees to the two local non-profit service agencies in Karachi. One of these agencies subsidized health care t...