Despite its status as a world leader in treatment innovation and medical education, a quality chasm exists in American health care. Care fragmentation and poor coordination contribute to expensive care with highly variable quality in the United States. The rising costs of health care since 1990 have had a huge impact on individuals, families, businesses, the federal and state governments, and t...

Introduction: Acceptance and commitment therapy [ACT] can enhance psychological flexibility and subsequently improve mental health and quality of life of individuals. Also recovery of patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) is depended on several physical and psychological factors. Therefore, the authors aimed to examine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on quality ...

This article will appear in the January 1, 2013, issue of AJHP. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are groups of health care providers (e.g., physicians, hospitals, health systems) that are jointly held responsible for improving the quality of care and reducing costs (or the rate of growth in costs) across the health care continuum, including the ambulatory care, inpatient, and long-term-car...

INTRODUCTION Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience higher levels of psychological distress and mental ill health than their non-Indigenous counterparts, but underuse mental health services. Interventions are required to address the structural and functional access barriers that cause this underuse. In 2012, the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres ...

The voluminous bill known as the PPACA of 2010 enabled substantial changes to our health care delivery system, some of which remain to be enacted for several years to come. While the overarching goal is to align incentives and improve quality and access, implementing PPACA initiatives in a highly complex environment is fraught with economic and political implications. The purpose of this and fu...

With Supreme Court and election uncertainty now resolved over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers are recognizing the need for immediate action and reassessing the role they play in promoting and insuring the health of their population. Centered on a consistent need to have a workforce that is healthy, present and high-performing, employers face four possible strateg...

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal Obamacare. We review what effect the incoming administration may have on U.S. health care policy.