Adding Value to Ecological Risk Assessment with Population Modeling

Integrating population modeling into ecological risk assessment.

Ecological risk assessment should be value-relevant but not value-biased.

Adding value to relative-value units.

R units (RVUs) were developed in 1988 as a method of accounting for physicians’ work effort and hospital or clinic expenses. Because RVUs provided a uniform, formulaic metric for myriad clinical services, they quickly became the prevailing method for setting feefor-service payments for Medicare and private insurance. However, the dominance of the fee-forservice model has created strong structur...

Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals from cement factory dust

Background: The release of metals from industrial factories is one of the most important sources of environmental pollution. The present study aimed to determine the concentration of heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in dust around the cement factory. Methods: A total of 22 dust samples were collected from areas around the cement factory...

Adding value to mechanical ventilation

http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1806-37132014000500002 hospitalization for patients with respiratory failure and requiring mechanical ventilation is estimated to be US$34,000, allow us to extrapolate that Brazil will spend nearly R$54.5 billion/year, considering 12% of healthcare expenditures(8) and 1.1% of the gross domestic product,9) on hospital treatment of patients with acute respiratory failur...