Background. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been recently one of the most common issues discussed in publications related to innovative changes in the management of construction projects. The concept of BIM integrates all the activities related to the design, construction and operation into the ICT model developed and implemented within a communication platform. From the point of view ...

BACKGROUND While venture funding has been applied to biotechnology and health in high-income countries, it is still nascent in these fields in developing countries, and particularly in Africa. Yet the need for implementing innovative solutions to health challenges is greatest in Africa, with its enormous burden of communicable disease. Issues such as risk, investment opportunities, return on in...

Many countries rely heavily on patients' out-of-pocket payments to providers to finance their health care systems. This prevents some people from seeking care and results in financial catastrophe and impoverishment for others who do obtain care. Surveys in eighty-nine countries covering 89 percent of the world's population suggest that 150 million people globally suffer financial catastrophe an...

A Corporation is a company that owns other companies outstanding stock. In business matters, a Corporation is a defaul company if, at least, one of its subsidiary is on default. The statistical interest is, in a specific period of time, to determine the Default probability for the Corporation given that the subsidiaries of this Corporation are correlated. Therefore, the model must address the i...

1998, employment of never-married mothers rose by an astonishing 40 percent. Moving welfare recipients from welfare to work is the primary goal of current welfare policy. Four years after passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), the nation is achieving considerable success in reaching this goal. During the 1990s, the public sector enhanced poor fa...

OBJECTIVE The National Quality Forum (NQF) Safe Practices are a group of 34 evidence-based Safe Practices that should be universally used to reduce the risk of harm to patients. Four of these practices specifically address leadership. A recently published book, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, offers practical advice on how to lead in crisis. An analysis of how concepts from the 7 lessons could...

Background In times of financial hardship, making innovative treatments affordable for society, accessible for patients and profitable for pharmaceutical companies is a challenge. Reimbursement is often threatened by uncertainties about the financial impact or evidence for a treatment. A contractual agreement between the payer and pharmaceutical company can link reimbursement to financial thres...

Issue: Two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries with physical and/or cognitive impairment (PCI) who live in the community have three or more chronic conditions and could benefit from integrated medical and social services. Over one-third of those with PCI have incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty level but are not covered by Medicaid, exposing them to risk of financial burdens and nursi...

Caregivers often manage the aggressive behavior of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities that reside in community group homes. Sometimes this results in adverse outcomes for both the caregivers and the care recipients. We provided a 7-day intensive Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) training to caregivers from community group homes and assessed the outcom...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global public health problem which affects poorest individuals the worst. A high proportion of patients incur 'catastrophic costs' which have been shown to result in severe financial hardship and adverse health outcomes. Data on catastrophic cost incidence is not routinely collected, and current definitions of this indicator involve several practical and ...