An integrated Lifetime Health Record (LHR) is fundamental for achieving seamless and continuous access to patient medical information and for the continuum of care. However, the aim has not yet been fully realised. The efforts are actively progressing around the globe. Every stage of the development of the LHR initiatives had presented peculiar challenges. The best lessons in life are those of ...

Gender-specific approaches to health and health care recognize the different experiences of women and men and of various populations of women or men. As yet, little is known about men’s gender-specific health care needs. This article outlines precepts for developing new theoretical paradigms and research models and offers direction for social scientists and practitioners in the nascent field of...

Each of the countries of the Americas probably has a different set of problems and priorities in health manpower. One hopes, however, that there is sufficient common ground to enable us to learn by sharing our experiences, if for no other reason than to avoid repeating each other’s mistakes. To my knowledge, Canada does not have the answers to the really fundamental questions of , health manpow...

Introduction: Limited research has been undertaken in Europe examining the shift in the balance of care from psychiatric facilities to community/alternative based facilities (deinstitutionalisation). In order to address this gap the Mental Health Economics European Network undertook research across 32 network countries to explore the extent to which care has shifted, and what challenges and bar...

The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation. Studies have consistently demonstrated higher prevalence of serious mental illness among the incarcerated. Although health care may be available to individuals while incarcerated, research is needed to understand the context of health care coverage and mental health after incarceration. The purpose of this study is to ...

Recent federal policies and actions support the adoption of health information exchange (HIE) in order to improve healthcare by addressing fragmented personal health information. However, concerted efforts at facilitating HIE have existed for over two decades in this country. The lessons of these experiences include a recurrence of barriers and challenges beyond those associated with technology...

There are noted disparities by ethnicity, race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status in the reported use of and access to cancer information. Missing from this list of variables that predict these disparities are specific geographic locales, such as Appalachia, a region recognized as a medically underserved, “special population”. Through a secondary analysis of NCI’s 2003 HINTS dataset, we are...

Environmental Health Perspectives • VOLUME 114 | NUMBER 10 | October 2006 A 603 The NIEHS Strategic Plan for 2006–2011, New Frontiers in Environmental Sciences and Human Health, lays out a vision for establishing a global effort in the environmental health sciences. A central component of that vision is the establishment of enhanced research capacity in developing nations and cooperation betwee...

There is renewed interest in the revival of health co-operative as a “third option” for meeting health care needs of populations in developing countries in the context of health sector reforms. This article reviews some international experiences with health co-operatives. We briefly assess the history of health co-operatives in industrialized countries where they originated and review past expe...