Rural enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) and other prepaid plans grew by 15% from December 2008 to December 2009, faster than the 10% national growth rate. Preferred provider organization (PPO) plans drove the increased enrollment in MA plans in rural areas in 2009, while private fee-for-service (PFFS) plans continued to dominate the market with over 50% of enrollment. This landscape could c...

Using the Diagnostic Cost Group (DCG) model developed from a national sample, we examine biased selection among one fee-for-service (FFS) plan, one preferred provider organization, and several health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in Massachusetts. The proportions of enrollees in low-risk groups are higher in the HMO plans and lower in the FFS plan. The average age in the FFS plan is 9 years ...

information technology (it) is now widely in use in social .economical and cultural domains all over the world. iran has a forty years long experience in academic computer science education besides more than seven years of experience in it education. due to increasing importance of it application in today's human life and its improving and dynamic nature, it seems to be necessary to consid...

Despite the national decline in the number of employed workers in 1975, the number of workers covered lnder most types of employee-benefit plans increased slightly. Contributions and benefit payments underwent the greatest change. Total contributions increased 17 percent and benefit payments rose 14 percent. In part this change can be attributed to inflation, but it also reflects real growth in...

This article seeks to understand how the nationalization of SDGs exercises affects NDPs. Drawing on theories norm localization, it examines NDPs and visions five countries see as normative tools shift or steer a pre-existing alignment between global domestic norms. Our study finds that offer alternatives traditional frameworks, but they have not fundamentally changed state's dominant developmen...

PROBLEM Improving pandemic planning and preparedness is a challenge in Europe, a diverse region whose regional bodies (the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization [WHO], the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) have overlapping roles and responsibilities. APPROACH European pandemic preparedness indicators were used to develop an a...

BACKGROUND Meticulous steps and procedures are proposed in planning guidelines for the development of comprehensive multiyear plans for national immunization programmes. However, we know very little about whether the real-life experience of those who adopt these guidelines involves following these procedures as expected. Are these steps and procedures followed in practice? We examined the adopt...

Many purchasers and consumers of health care have become concerned about the quality of care being delivered in managed care plans. Little is known, however, about the health plan characteristics that are associated with better performance. We used survey responses from 82,583 Medicare beneficiaries from 182 health plans to study the association of consumers' assessments of care with health pla...

BACKGROUND The 2008 Maputo Declaration calls for the development of dedicated national laboratory policies and strategic plans supporting the enhancement of laboratory services in response to the long-lasting relegation of medical laboratory systems in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVES This study describes the extent to which laboratories are addressed in the national health policies and plans c...