To assess the effects of the gatekeeper policy implemented in Shenzhen, China, in conjunction with a labor health insurance program, on channeling patients toward community health centers (CHCs).Eight thousand patients who visited 8 CHCs in Shenzhen were surveyed between May 1, 2013 and July 28, 2013. Half of the patients were subject to gatekeeper policy and the other half of them were not. St...

OBJECTIVES To understand the acceptability of, and willingness to pay for, community health insurance coverage among residents of rural India. METHODS We conducted a mixed methods study of 33 respondents located in 8 villages in southern India. Interview domains focused on health-seeking behaviors of the family for primary healthcare, household expenditures on primary healthcare, interest in ...

For the past 10 years the Ghana Government has been trying to replace the old user fee system with an overall health insurance scheme, but one problem of the old system continues to bedevil the new policy: exemption of the poor. This paper presents data from empirical fieldwork and also puts forward an opinion. It discusses how past experiences of user fee exemptions for the poor can inform exe...

background: current evidence consistently confirm inequalities in health status among socioeconomic groups, gender, ethnicity, geographical area and other social determinants of health (sdh), which adversely influence health of the population. sdh refer to a wide range of factors not limited to social component, but also involve economic, cultural, educational, political or environmental proble...

OBJECTIVE State health reform (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [ACA]) policies may impact the work experiences of community health professionals. We examine the extent to which community health professional work experiences differ depending on state Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchange policies. DESIGN Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) (2014) ...

BACKGROUND We describe a step-wedge cluster-randomised community-based trial which has been conducted since 2003 to accompany the implementation of a community health insurance (CHI) scheme in West Africa. The trial aims at overcoming the paucity of evidence-based information on the impact of CHI. Impact is defined in terms of changes in health service utilisation and household protection again...

OBJECTIVE Health insurance options are changing. Electronic health record (EHR) databases present new opportunities for providers to track the insurance coverage status of their patients. This study demonstrates the use of EHR data for this purpose. METHODS Using EHR data from the OCHIN Network of community health centers, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of data from children presen...

Background Thirteen percent of Latinos in Massachusetts lack health insurance, the highest rate of any ethnic or racial group. Families without health insurance are more likely to be in poor or fair health, to lack a regular medical provider, and to not have visited a medical provider in the past year. Context The Latino Health Insurance Program is designed as a response both to the high rate o...

BACKGROUND Thirteen percent of Latinos in Massachusetts lack health insurance, the highest rate of any ethnic or racial group. Families without health insurance are more likely to be in poor or fair health, to lack a regular medical provider, and to not have visited a medical provider in the past year. CONTEXT The Latino Health Insurance Program is designed as a response both to the high rate...