For more than a decade, healthcare reform has emphasized coordinated “patient-centered care”. To that end, policymakers have invested in integration of healthcare providers’ information flows. Research has studied healthcare providers’ information needs but overlooked communicative exchanges among participants in coordinating treatment plan decisions. Consequently, although medical literature a...

Standard glucose-based peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions have unfavorable effects on the peritoneum and contribute to metabolic abnormalities. A PD regimen in which solutions with an alternative osmotic agent (icodextrin, amino acids) and solutions with a bicarbonate/lactate buffer are combined may reduce those effects. In a prospective crossover study, we randomized new continuous ambulatory ...

Value realization in service networks, such as healthcare, is receiving increasing attention as governments battle rising costs. But before value realization can be understood, there needs to be a conceptualization of the network so that specific valuecreating services and exchanges can be identified. The service value network (SVN) model of Basole and Rouse (2008) has been adapted to explore t...

Due to diversity, heterogeneity and complexity of the existing healthcare structure, providing suitable healthcare services is a complicated process. This work describes the conceptual design of an e-healthcare system, which implements integration strategies and suitable technologies that will handle the interoperability problem among its essential components. The proposed solution combines int...

The major challenges facing the U.S. healthcare systems are escalating costs, lack of access to almost 40 million residents, and inconsistent quality. It is hypothesized that the use of electronic health records systems and the implementation of interoperable health information exchanges (HIE) will result in significant cost savings, outcomes and quality improvement, reduction in medical errors...

The creation of regional clinical data exchanges (usually referred to as RHIOs) is a centerpiece of the US national healthcare information technology strategy. How well are they doing and what lessons can we learn that might be applied here in Canada?

Life is changing dramatically, market position as part of life is becoming more and more important, and marketing, considered a key cultural architect of nowadays that involves voluntary relation exchanges between the communicating partners, is placing the patient in the center of most adequate action towards the medical future which represents his life quality. We think that the moment has com...

BACKGROUND The work of a family physician is quite different in each country, and if we consider different continents, differences are even more remarkable. Social and cultural contexts justify a particular organization, not only of the health-care system but also its providers as well. OBJECTIVES By analyzing different health-care systems, new ideas may come about which may trigger positive ...

Recent healthcare reform has focused on reducing excessive waste in the US healthcare system, with duplicate testing being one of the main culprits. We explore the factors associated with duplication of radiology tests when information sharing across healthcare providers is fragmented, and patients switch from one hospital to another. We hypothesize that patients’ switching behavior across hosp...

Healthcare reform has emphasized coordinated and integrated care — patient-centered care — for a decade. To that end, policymakers have invested in integration of healthcare providers’ information flows. Research to date has studied healthcare actors’ information needs but overlooked communicative exchanges among all participants in coordinating treatment plan decisions. Consequently, while med...