Physicians are often blamed for the high cost of healthcare in the US. Physicians dupe patients into consuming too much care, the story goes, driving up costs without producing commensurate gains in health. This line of reasoning derives from the physician-induced demand (PID) hypothesis, which is a long-debated topic in health economics. Under the PID hypothesis, physicians influence patient d...

OBJECTIVES To examine the impact of Massachusetts healthcare reform on changes in rates of admission to hospital for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which are potentially preventable with good access to outpatient medical care, and racial and ethnic disparities in such rates, using complete inpatient discharge data (hospital episode statistics) from Massachusetts and three control...

background decentralisation aims to bring services closer to the community and has been advocated in the health sector to improve quality, access and equity, and to empower local agencies, increase innovation and efficiency and bring healthcare and decision-making as close as possible to where people live and work. fiji has attempted two approaches to decentralisation. the current approach refl...

With increased innovation and development of specialty pharmaceuticals, the US and global healthcare industries are looking to implement appropriate management strategies to control both utilization and costs. Specialty pharmaceuticals are high-cost medications that treat complex, chronic, rare, and difficult-to-manage conditions. These drugs require special drug handling, appropriate clinical ...

BACKGROUND The need to understand how healthcare worker reform policy interventions impact health personnel in peri-urban areas is important as it also contributes towards setting of priorities in pursuing the universal health coverage goal of health sector reform. This study explored the impact of post 2008 human resource for health reform policy interventions on healthcare workers in Epworth,...

In several European countries, including Norway, polices to increase patient choice of hospital provider have remained high on the political agenda. The main reason behind the interest in hospital choice reforms in Norway has been the belief that increasing choice can remedy the persistent problem of long waiting times for elective hospital care. Prior to the 2013 General Election, the Conserva...

W hen Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-ME, pulled the plug on the healthcare reform debate September 26, it marked the end of a long, contentious, expensive legislative battle—for now. Many analysts in Washington, DC, believe this debate is far from over. However, politics and the need to return home to campaign for midterm elections have won out in the near term. The continuing pressu...

Major health policy creation or changes, including governmental and private policies affecting health care delivery are based on health care reform(s). Health care reform has been a global issue over the years and the United States has seen proposals for multiple reforms over the years. A successful, health care proposal in the United States with involvement of the federal government was the sh...