Private hospitals are an essential component of Australia's complex mix of public and private health funding and provision. Private hospitals account for 34.3 per cent of all hospital separations, and over half (56.2%) of all same-day separations. The revenue (funding) of the sector approached $4 billion by 1998/99, and as a result of its recent rapid growth capital expenditure in the sector wa...

OBJECTIVE To document differences in provider behaviour between private and public providers in hospital outpatient departments, health centres and clinics in Bangkok, Thailand. METHOD Analysis of the characteristics of 211 taped consultations with simulated patients. RESULTS Private hospitals and clinics were significantly more responsive. Private clinics but not private hospitals were als...

Since its election to office in 1996, reform of Private Health Insurance (PHI) has been the most obvious health policy focus of the Howard Government. The reform process has focussed on price, product, promotion, legislation and regulation. It has resulted in one of the largest new Commonwealth health outlays in recent memory. Health insurance funds have emerged as active purchasers of care, no...

Much attention has been paid to hospitals environments since modern pandemics have emerged. The building sector is considered to be the largest world energy consumer, so many global organizations are attempting to create a sustainable environment in building construction by reducing energy consumption. Therefore, maintaining high standards of hygiene while reducing energy consumption has become...

This paper describes and evaluates the budgeting and planning processes in public hospitals in Kenya. We used a qualitative case study approach to examine these processes in two hospitals in Kenya. We collected data by in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practitioners in the case study hospitals (n = 72), a review of documents, and non-participa...

Public health in the United States began as a largely urban phenomenon, dating back to the late 1700s. In those days, public health was mostly concerned with issues such as sanitation and communicable diseases, which were of greater concern in areas with higher population density. By the late 1800s, however, it was apparent that the country's population was becoming more mobile and communicable...

Institutional corruption in the health care sector has gained considerable attention during recent years, as it acknowledges the fact that service providers who are acting in accordance with the institutional and environmental settings can nevertheless undermine a health care system's purposes as a result of the (financial) conflicts of interest to which the service providers are exposed. The p...

The reforms in the public sector accounting and financial management, as an important part of the New Public Management (NPM) initiative, have attracted considerable interest all over the world. The purpose of this study is to present empirical results related to the introduction and implementation of a governmental financial accounting reform in the public health sector in Greece five years af...