CORRECTION After the publication of this article [1] it has come to our attention that the author Jeph Herrin was incorrectly included as Jeph Henry. The correct spelling is included in this erratum and the original article has been updated.

BACKGROUND The hierarchical pyramid inside Spanish public hospitals was radically changed by the Health Reform Law promulgated in 1986. According to it, the manpower of the hospitals was divided into three divisions (Medical, Nursing, General Services/Administration), which from then on occupied the same level, only subject to the general manager. Ten years after the implementation of the law, ...

BACKGROUND High cesarean section rates in Brazilian public hospitals and higher rates in private hospitals are well established. Less is known about the relationship between payment source and cesarean section rates within public and private hospitals. METHODS We analyzed the 1998, 2003, and 2008 rounds of a nationally representative household survey (PNAD), which includes type of delivery, w...

BACKGROUND The present study was conducted to scrutinize Public- Private Partnership (PPP) models in public hospitals of different countries based on performance indicators in order to se-lect appropriated models for Iran hospitals. METHODS In this mixed (quantitative-qualitative) study, systematic review and expert panel has been done to identify varied models of PPP as well as performance i...

BACKGROUND The awareness of patient's rights is negligible in developing countries where no legal framework is present to protect these rights and Pakistan is no exception. Not only is there an absence of legal structure for protection of patients' rights, but the enforcement and implementation for existing law is also questionable. Pakistan has an Islamic Charter of Medical and Health Ethics w...

The present decline in per capita expenditure on health in Saudi Arabia requires private funding to reduce pressure of health expenditure on the government budget. User charges would be an important source of revenue in the Kingdom where services cannot be cut and taxes are not imposed. User charges in public facilities would curtail over-utilization and reduce inefficient use of resources by p...

Background Unequal distribution of specialist doctors in Indonesia has been identified many years ago. Government has taken several measures to address this issue. However the phenomenon is still present today. In the year 2014, Indonesia will apply universal health coverage which needs specialist doctors to support it. The failure to provide specialist doctors would increase inequity, particul...

OBJECTIVE To measure time trends in major day surgery rates according to hospital ownership and other hospital characteristics among the providers of the public healthcare network of Catalonia, Spain. METHOD Data from the Statistics of Health Establishments providing Inpatient Care. A generalized linear mixed model with Gaussian response and random intercept and random slopes. RESULTS The g...

OBJECTIVES A recent study reported a large increase in the number of meniscal procedures from 2000 to 2011 in Denmark. We examined the nation-wide distribution of meniscal procedures performed in the private and public sector in Denmark since different incentives may be present and the use of these procedures may differ from region to region. SETTING We included data on all patients who under...

The principles of patient centred care and the mantra of “nothing about me without me” have gained broad support, but its proving hard to adopt and embed them in routine practice. New ways of thinking and tackling resistance to change are needed, and a range of initiatives are being pursued. We describe the approach being taken in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, with 7.4 milli...