Although we do know that out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is relatively high in Australia, little is known about what health conditions are associated with the highest out-of-pocket expenditure, and whether the cost of healthcare acts as a barrier to care for people with different chronic conditions. Cross-sectional analysis using linear and logistic regression models applied to the Commonw...

BACKGROUND Physical therapy decreases low back pain, improves function, and may lead to decreased use of medical services. However, factors predicting physical therapy utilization for patients with low back pain are not well understood. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of out-of-pocket expenditure on physical therapy utilization for US adults with nonspecific lo...

BACKGROUND Generation of resources for providing health care services is an important issue in developing countries. User charges in the form of Surgical Package Program (SPP) were introduced in all district hospitals of Haryana to address this problem. We evaluate the effect of this SPP program on surgical care utilization and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures. METHODS Data on 25437 surgeries...

Research on impact of publicly financed health insurance has paid relatively little attention to the nature of healthcare provision the schemes engage. India's National Health Insurance Scheme or RSBY was made universal by Chhattisgarh State in 2012. In the State, public and private sectors provide hospital services in a context of extensive gender, social, economic and geographical inequities....

BACKGROUND This study investigated the household economic burden of eating disorders and cost-related non-adherence to treatment in Australia. METHODS Multi-centre prospective observational study using a structured questionnaire. Ninety participants were recruited from two clinic settings in New South Wales, Australia and from the community using social media. The primary outcome measures wer...

This paper is focused on a machine-learning approach for estimating human energy expenditure during sport and normal daily activities. The paper presents technical feasibility assessment that analyses requirements and applicability of smart phone sensors to human energy expenditure. The paper compares and evaluates three different sensor configuration sets: (i) a heart rate monitor and two stan...

BACKGROUND The way a health system is financed affects the performance of its other functions of stewardship, input (or resource) creation and services provision, and ultimately, the achievement of health system goals of health improvement (or maintenance), responsiveness to people's non-medical expectations and fair financial contributions. OBJECTIVES To analyse the changes between 1998 and ...