background: the iranian healthcare system is primarily an insurance based system. this structure has an important influence on the efficiency and equity of the provision of healthcare in iran. this paper reviews the history of the iranian healthcare system and the impact of the iranian health insurance system on healthcare performance based on the results of interviews with key opinion leaders ...

This paper explains the concepts of knowledge management and how these apply to healthcare. It then presents a number of knowledge management case studies in order to examine how and where knowledge management initiatives might bring benefits to healthcare organisations. In order to present a more complete picture of knowledge management, the arguments of a number of critics of the knowledge ma...

Neil Lunt and Russel Mannion provide an overview of the current state of the medical tourism literature and propose areas for future research in health policy and management. The authors also identify the main unanswered questions in this field ranging from the real size of the medical tourism market to the particular health profiles of transnational patients. In addition, they highlight unexpl...

The 21st century promises to usher in an era of Internet based healthcare services--Tele-Healthcare. Such services augur well with the on-going paradigm shift in healthcare delivery patterns, i.e. patient centred services as opposed to provider centred services and wellness maintenance as opposed to illness management. This paper presents a Tele-Healthcare info-structure TIDE--an 'intelligent' ...