background both rising healthcare costs and the global financial crisis have fueled a search for policy tools in order to avoid unsustainable future financing of essential health benefits. the scope of essential health benefits (the range of services covered) and depth of coverage (the proportion of costs of the covered benefits that is covered publicly) are corresponding variables in determini...

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in Singapore and many parts of the world. Chronic disease management programmes allow seamless care provision across a spectrum of healthcare facilities and allow appropriate services to be brought to the stroke patient and the family. Randomised controlled trials have provided evidence for efficacious interventions. After the management of acute ...

Telemedicine refers to the delivery and provision of health care and consultative services to individual patients and the transmission of information related to care, over distance, using telecommunications technologies.Quality of service is a critical determinant of telemedicine performance. In addition, it can also be a critical factor in determining long-term viability of a telemedicine serv...

This study investigated the effect of spatial accessibility to healthcare services (HS) in residential and workplace neighbourhoods on the use of HS. Questionnaire data from the RECORD Study (2007-2008) were merged with administrative healthcare and geographic data. A novel method was developed to assess clustering of visits to HS around the residence/workplace. We found clustered use of HS aro...

a recent editorial by naoki ikegami has proposed three key lessons from japan’s experience of achieving virtually universal coverage with primary healthcare services: the need to integrate the existing providers of primary healthcare services into the organised health system; the need to limit government commitments to finance hospital services and the need to empower providers of primary healt...

Today most countries are implementing or planning to implement some type of e-health solution. This in turn leads to an exponential increase to the amount of data created, captured and stored. In order to maximise such a valuable data asset as well as create reliable and trustworthy e-health solutions, it is paramount to have a systematic strategy and robust organising framework which will in t...

Ongoing healthcare reform calls for increased accessibility, enhanced delivery, and improved quality of healthcare. Children and adolescents are experiencing a rise in the prevalence in chronic diseases leading to an increased utilization of medications. The increased use of chronic medications can lead to more medication errors or adverse drug events, particularly in children and adolescents u...

Existing literature on the marketing of primary healthcare services was reviewed to determine the role of registered nurses in this regard. The systematic review included five searches and ensured wide coverage of the results of available primary research studies on the topic. The results were summarised and the role of registered nurses in the marketing of primary healthcare services was ident...

Staff turnover represents a major problem for healthcare services (HS) in terms of cost and quality of care given, thus making the issue of improving retention a priority for the sector. This study reviews the literature on factors affecting turnover and retention of hospital consultants and midwives. Prevailing concepts regarding the reasons for voluntary turnover and factors affecting retenti...

Globally, healthcare service delivery faces many challenges that transcend regional and national boundaries. Population growth, increased life expectancy, increasingly stringent regulatory and compliance requirements, and demand for more and better access to quality care are driving up healthcare costs and creating a chronic shortage of skilled professionals. Continuing to deliver healthcare se...