P rescription drugs are playing an increasingly greater role in the health care delivery system: not only are more Americans using prescription medicines than ever before, but the number of prescriptions per user has increased as has the number of days of therapy per prescription. Between 1977 and 1998, the proportion of Americans taking at least one prescription rose from 58 to 66 percent and ...

The story of AHCPR's struggle with Congress to remain a federal agency is an example of the longer struggle health services research (HSR) has had to hold a priority in the federal budget. But from another perspective, the growth of HSR has been substantial, albeit an up-and-down experience. Its survival during the turbulent years of 1995-1996 is attributed to a fundamental restructuring of its...

In the face of large and growing budget deficits, finding ways to bend the health care cost curve and improve the efficiency of the Medicare program has been a central focus of budget policy. Medicare spends more than $500 billion annually for more than 46 million senior and disabled beneficiaries, and research suggests new medical technologies such as drugs, devices, diagnostics and surgical t...

background : despite an increased need, residents of rural communities have decreased access to healthcare and often present unique healthcare challenges associated with their rurality. ensuring medical students receive adequate exposure to these issues is complicated by the urban location of most medical schools. health fairs (fairs) conducted in rural communities can provide students exposure...

OBJECTIVE To review the conceptual relationship between telehealth and translational research. METHODS Bibliographical search on telehealth was conducted in the Scopus, Cochrane BVS, LILACS and MEDLINE databases to find experiences of telehealth in conjunction with discussion of translational research in health. The search retrieved eight studies based on analysis of models of the five stages...

OBJECTIVE Despite considerable advances in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, the burden of new infections of HIV and AIDS varies substantially across the country. Previous studies have demonstrated associations between increased healthcare spending and better HIV/AIDS outcomes; however, less is known about the association between spending on social services and public health spending an...

Infectious diseases continue to pose major public health challenges in developed, as well as developing, countries. The European Academies Science Advisory Council aims to integrate multidisciplinary analyses to define priorities for European surveillance of new, growing, or potential threats from antimicrobial resistance, vector-borne disease, and pandemic influenza. There is a concomitant nee...