Assessing the value of clinical and translational research funding on accelerating the translation of scientific knowledge is a fundamental issue faced by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its Clinical and Translational Awards (CTSAs). To address this issue, the authors propose a model for measuring the return on investment (ROI) of one key CTSA program, the clinical research unit (CR...

UNLABELLED The rheumatology nurse specialist (RNS) has become an integral and vital part of the multidisciplinary team and is valued by patients. Yet, a number of challenges regularly face all clinical nurse specialists (CNS) in the UK. The perception that CNS are an expensive and poorly defined nursing resource results in regular threats to their sustainability, particularly that of the RNS. T...

Community health workers (CHWs) are effective in improving access to health care, promoting client knowledge and behavior change, and contributing to improved health status of individuals. However, few outreach programs have evaluated the financial impact of CHWs on health care systems and policies. A longitudinal repeated measures design was used to assess the return on investment (ROI) of out...

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are gaining acceptance in the US health care system, but have been subject to challenges as to their "cost-effectiveness." This situation is shifting, with a growing body of published evidence as to the effectiveness of CHWs, but much of the evidence of cost savings from employing CHWs is still unpublished. Return on investment analysis for CHWs must consider a r...

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) account for about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths in the United States each year. This number represents 4.5 infections for every 100 hospital admissions.1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) March 2009 report on the direct medical costs of HAIs estimates that $35.7 to $45 billion in 2007 dollars is added to the nation’s annual h...

Organizations need practical security benchmarking tools in order to plan effective security strategies. This paper explores a number of techniques that can be used to measure security within an organization. It proposes a new benchmarking methodology that produces results that are of strategic importance to both decision makers and technology implementers. The approach taken reflects a work-in...

This paper examines the subject of employee assistance programs (EAP) and whether they provide a return on investment that merits their use. The historical background of the EAP will be first looked at to demonstrate its purpose and growth in the business world. Research will be presented in relation to EAP use in companies and the outcomes that resulted. Criticisms against EAP use occurs in th...

For centuries, academia maintained a vice-like grip on information, mostly with its specialized language, but recently more with its exclusivity. (They do not call it the ivory tower for nothing.) Aside from what is read in newspapers, the general populace generally cannot access scientific research in its original publication form, despite those articles being the main currency by which academ...

Since the amount spent on information technology (IT) keeps on increasing with time, senior management is rightly concerned with the evaluation of their capital investments in IT. However, despite significant progress in evaluating the productivity impacts from corporate investment in IT, the inability of traditional economic measures to fully account for intangible impacts has led to for calls...