Health reform: the good, the bad, and the bottom line.

Sharpening the Health Policy Analytical Rapier; Comment on “The Politics and Analytics of Health Policy”

This commentary on the Editorial ‘The politics and analytics of health policy’ by Professor Calum Paton focuses on two issues. First, it points to the unclear links between ideas, ideology, values, and discourse and policy, and warns that discourse is often a poor guide to enacted policy. Second, it suggests that realism, particularly ‘programme theory’ are useful tools for health policy analys...

Competition in Healthcare: Good, Bad or Ugly?

The role of competition in healthcare is much debated. Despite a wealth of international experience in relation to competition, evidence is mixed and contested and the debate about the potential role for competition is often polarised. This paper considers briefly some of the reasons for this, focusing on what is meant by “competition in healthcare” and why it is more valuable to think about th...

Optimisation of Healthcare Contracts: Tensions Between Standardisation and Innovation; Comment on “Competition in Healthcare: Good, Bad or Ugly?”

An important determinant of health system performance is contracting. Providers often respond to financial incentives, despite the ethical underpinnings of medicine, and payers can craft contracts to influence performance. Yet contracting is highly imperfect in both single-payer and multi-payer health systems. Arguably, in a competitive, multi-payer environment, contractual innovation may occur...

Good news and bad. As a source of inspiration for healthcare reform, the Catholic tradition has both strengths and weaknesses.

Psychometric and psychological characteristics of elder people’s response to question about their health

Introduction: It was shown that elder people’s self-perceptive health isn`t only under emphasis of physical function and other factors like social and cognitive functions effect on it. Aim: This research investigates psychometric and psychological characteristics of elder people’s response to questions about their health during an eighth-year study. Method: The research design was a 2 × 4 fact...