OBJECTIVE With a quasi-experimental design, this study aims to assess whether the Zero-markup Policy for Essential Drugs (ZPED) reduces the medical expense for patients at county hospitals, the major healthcare provider in rural China. METHODS Data from Ningshan county hospital and Zhenping county hospital, China, include 2014 outpatient records and 9239 inpatient records. Quantitative method...

BACKGROUND Technical efficiency of hospital services is debated since performance has been heterogeneous. Staff time represents the main resource in patient care and its inappropriate allocation has been identified as a key factor of inefficiency. The aim of this study was to analyse the utilisation of physicians' work time stratified by staff groups, tasks and places of work. A further aim was...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to determine whether outpatient treatment of pyelonephritis in pregnancy can reduce costs without compromising safety or efficacy. METHODS Pregnant patients with uncomplicated initial episodes of acute pyelonephritis were considered for outpatient management. The outpatient treatment consisted of an initial dose of IV ceftriaxone (2 g), followed by daily outp...

BACKGROUND Lifestyle factors, such as an unbalanced diet and lack of physical activity, may affect the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in schizophrenic patients. The aim of this study was to compare the MetS prevalence between inpatients and outpatients among schizophrenic population in Japan. METHODS We recruited inpatients (n = 759) and outpatients (n = 427) with a Diagnostic and St...

The aim of this study was to examine factors precipitating patient readmission, following anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for refractory epilepsy. A second aim was to explore the use of hospital outpatient and community support services ('outpatient services') by this patient population. These aims served the more general goal of identifying patients most likely in need of services additional...

BACKGROUND Many diagnostic and treatment procedures are done in hospitals and clinics. Offering services in these areas have a prominent role in promoting patients' satisfaction levels and their prospective about health services. OBJECTIVES This study is going to assess the satisfaction levels of patients referring to the six military hospital clinics in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this ...

The selection of input and output variables usually pose a problem when carrying out efficiency assessment in hospitals. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is an instrument that used to calculate the hospital using some inputs outputs. Therefore, this study aims identify most frequently outputs from existing paper,, order assist management staffs choosing relevant can represent available inputs, a...

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 dramatically changed the payment environment for institutional providers of non-acute health services by mandating a shift in Medicare reimbursement of outpatient, home health, and skilled nursing services from the traditional cost-based approaches to prospective payment. Although they were designed to slow health care spending, these Medicare payment reforms, pa...

background: diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease which many factors are involved and is developing considerably worldwide. increasing aging population and obesity in the societies has improved the scale of the type 2 diabetes significantly. the aim of this study was to determine the direct medical costs of outpatient cares of diabetes in iran. methods: active patients of isfahan endocrinology...