The formal private sector could play a significant role in determining whether success or failure is achieved in working towards goals for safe motherhood in many low- and middle-income settings. Established private providers, especially nurses/midwives, have the potential to contribute to safe motherhood practices if they are involved in the care continuum. However, they have largely been over...

Community Care Julia Twigg L. C. Burbridge, The labor market for home care workers: demand, supply, and institutional barriers, The Gerontologist, 33, 1 (1993), 41-46. P. H. Feldman, Work life improvements for home care workers: impact and feasibility, The Gerontologist, 33, 1 (1993), 47~54N. N. Eustis, R. A. Kane and L. R. Fischer, Home care quality and the home care worker: beyond quality ass...

BACKGROUND Drug formularies have been created by third party payers to control prescription drug usage and manage costs. Physicians try to provide the best care for their patients. This research examines family physicians' attitudes regarding prescription reimbursement criteria, prescribing and advocacy for patients experiencing reimbursement barriers. METHODS Focus groups were used to collec...

Although community pharmacies have been the mainstay for drug distribution in the USA, plan members are encouraged to use mail-order pharmacies as a cost-containment strategy. Both channels differ with respect to reimbursement rates, utilization, and costs. We evaluated the differences in reimbursement rates and in ingredient costs between the two dispensing channels. We used pharmacy claims fr...

background as part of the eurodrg project, researchers from eleven countries (i.e. austria, england, estonia, finland, france, germany, ireland, netherlands, poland, sweden, and spain) compared how their diagnosis-related groups (drg) systems deal with cholecystectomy patients. the study aims to assist surgeons and national authorities to optimize their drg systems.   methods national or region...

OBJECTIVES To measure changes in length of stay following total knee and hip replacement (TKR and THR) between 1997 and 2014 and estimate the impact on hospital reimbursement, all else being equal. Further, to assess the degree to which observed trends can be explained by improved efficiency or changes in patient profiles. DESIGN Cross-sectional study using routinely collected data. SETTING...

BACKGROUND It is essential to allocate available resources equitably in order to ensure accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, especially in less fortunate nations with limited health funding. Currently, transparent and evidence based research is required to evaluate decision making regarding drug registration, drug pricing and reimbursement processes in Mongolia. OBJECTIVE T...

OBJECTIVES Reimbursement decisions require evidence of effectiveness and, in general, a blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) is the preferred study design to provide it. However, there are situations where a cohort study, or even patient series, can be deemed acceptable. The aim of this study was to develop an instrument that first examines which study characteristics of a blinded RCT are ...