Increasing application of information technology in the healthcare delivery system helps healthcare industry gain valuable knowledge from data, and use this insight to recommend action or guide decision making, and improve quality of patient care and practice of medicine. There is more data available than ever before. How can it truly benefit patients, payers and healthcare providers? Analytics...

Private healthcare services in Vietnam are seen as a major part of the solution to the rapid increase in need and demand for healthcare services. Formally recognized over 20 years ago, the private health services coexist with public services and are available all over the country. However, the scale and size of private sector is still small compared to the public sector and public acceptance an...

The characteristics of rural health and the issues driving the delivery of healthcare services to the rural environment are very different from those of metropolitan centers. Geographical isolation and its effect on access to health services is the defining element of rural health (1). In addition, the differing social, lifestyle, and environmental determinants of health in the rural population...

Today’s hospital leaders must manage to existing incentives while preparing for future challenges, such as the shift from fee for service to pay for performance, the transition toward more integrated care delivery and population health management, and the adoption of more patientcentric models of care delivery and management. This transition comes at a time when unemployment rates are high, fin...

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide today a unique opportunity for a more efficient delivery of quality care and improved access to healthcare resources and information. ICT can undoubtedly improve the use of information by healthcare professionals in day-to-day patient care. However, there must be an equally strong focus on the practical use and communication of informatio...

Introduction Across the globe telemedicine is being adopted in response to escalating demand for healthcare services from a population that has passed the point of 7 billion. Telemedicine refers to the delivery of healthcare services via the Internet a doctor located in California can provide a diagnosis for a patient living in Nepal. Telemedicine has been adopted by the armed services to deliv...

With demand for health services continuing to grow as populations age and new technologies emerge to meet health needs, healthcare policy-makers are under constant pressure to set priorities, ie, to make choices about the health services that can and cannot be funded within available resources. In a recent paper, Smith et al apply an influential policy studies framework – Kingdon’s multiple str...

Chronic behavioral health conditions, such as psychiatric and substance use disorders, affect at least half of all arrestees, with two-thirds suffering from at least one chronic medical disorder. These conditions contribute to their criminal behaviors and propensities to recycle through the criminal justice system (Binswanger et al. Journal of Urban Health 89:183-190, 2012). Despite their limit...

Globally, healthcare systems have been largely centered on acute care characterized by episodic, high-level (often expensive) care with sophisticated medical sub-specialization. There is now consensus globally that there should be a fundamental refocus by health-care systems towards more care outside of the acute setting so as to deal with the challenges of an aging population and increased pre...