This paper proposes an application framework for mobile agents which provides rule-based generic services to support the three phases of a market transaction (information phase, contracting phase and settlement phase). It is described within the four views of an electronic market which describe organizational as well as technological aspects. The focus of this paper is on the technological aspe...

BACKGROUND In the literature there are only few empirical studies that analyse the decision makers' reasoning to contract out health care and social services to private sector. However, the decisions on the delivery patterns of health care and social services are considered to be of great importance as they have a potential to influence citizens' access to services and even affect their health....

BACKGROUND Industry commissions contracting companies to perform network meta-analysis for health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement submissions. Our objective was to estimate the number of network meta-analyses performed by consulting companies contracted by industry, to assess whether they were published, and to explore reasons for non-publication. METHODS We searched MEDLINE for...

We consider a class of dynamic collective action problems in which either a single principal or two competing principals vie for the support of members of a group. We focus on the dynamic problem that emerges when agents negotiate and commit their support to principals sequentially. A danger for the agents in this context is that a principal may be able to succeed by exploiting competition amon...

BACKGROUND In a demand oriented health care system based on managed competition, health insurers have incentives to become prudent buyers of care on behalf of their enrolees. They are allowed to selectively contract care providers. This is supposed to stimulate competition between care providers and both increase the quality of care and contain costs in the health care system. However, health i...