With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and ongoing health care reform efforts, this is a critical time for the social work profession. The approaches and values embedded in health care reform are congruent with social work. One strategy is to improve care for people with co-morbid and chronic illnesses by integrating primary care and behavioral health service...

Fine Gael’s “FairCare” proposals, by contrast, represent the most fundamental reform of the health system since the formation of the State. We will abolish long-term waits on trolleys in A&E, slash waiting lists in hospitals, and eliminate the unfair and inefficient public/private divide by introducing Universal Health Insurance (UHI). We will also reform the Primary Care system to ensure that ...

Analyzing National Health Reform Strategies With a Dynamic Simulation Model. Milstein B, Homer J, Hirsch G. Proposals to improve the US health system are commonly supported by models that have only a few variables and overlook certain processes that may delay, dilute, or defeat intervention effects. We use an evidence-based dynamic simulation model with a broad national scope to analyze 5 polic...

Collaboration among health care providers and across systems is proposed as a strategy to improve health care delivery the world over. Over the past two decades, health care providers have been encouraged to work in partnership and build interdisciplinary teams. More recently, the notion of networks has entered this discourse but the lack of consensus and understanding about what is meant by ad...

Much of long-term care is not considered health care, as it is custodial, social, and supportive. But excellent long-term care is also preventive, timely, and accessible, and it provides space for long-term care recipients to find joy and meaning in their lives. This issue of the NCMJ provides abroad overview of long-term care, practical information about programs in our state, and tips for how...

Background There is an identified need for more robust and high-quality evidence to inform decisions about how to develop and deliver integrated primary/secondary health care. There is no single model of integrated care that is suited to all contexts, settings and circumstances. Researchers and policymakers need to work together with practitioners to develop, evaluate and implement effective ap...

OBJECTIVE To determine Wisconsin physicians' opinions regarding health care reform. METHODS The University of Wisconsin Survey Research Center performed a 46-question mail survey of 2500 randomly selected physicians from the Wisconsin Medical Society master list of practicing physicians. Respondents rated opinions on a 5-point Likert scale. Demographics of respondents (sex practice type, geog...

OBJECTIVE This article provides a comprehensive review of the healthcare reform process driven by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health's Direction of Healthcare Activities (DOHA) scheme. METHODS We reviewed policy documents relating to DOHA, along with historical literature and background information describing its formation. RESULTS DOHA (Chỉ đạo tuyến in Vietnamese) literally means guidance ...

Access to vital health care services is currently unavailable to many of Kentucky’s estimated 671 434 uninsured in 20091 and inadequate for many more currently covered by health insurance. A sufficient number of physicians of all specialties, especially primary care, are necessary to ensure that appropriate care is available. On the basis of a 2007 study by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine,2 ...