BACKGROUND Utilization of cardiac services varies across regions and hospitals, yet little is known regarding variation in the intensity of outpatient cardiac care across cardiology physician practices or the association with clinical endpoints, an area of potential importance to promote efficient care. METHODS AND RESULTS We included 7 160 732 Medicare beneficiaries who received services fro...

The care offer to people living with HIV/AIDS must transcend specialized outpatient services and include the participation of the Family Health Strategy. By understanding the importance of integration between these two points in the care network, the study aimed to build a decision support model to assist professionals of specialized health services in identifying behavior patterns in the use o...

The aim of this study was to compare the number of patients attending surgical outpatient clinics in a general hospital to the number of resulting elective procedures scheduled in a single year. Patients initially assessed at private consulting rooms are not included in this study. The number of surgical outpatient appointments issued in 2011 totalled 6503 with non-attendances running at 1489 (...

BACKGROUND Assessing the impact of cost sharing on healthcare utilization is a critical issue in health economics and health policy. It may affect the utilization of different services, but is yet to be well understood. OBJECTIVE This paper investigates the effects of reducing cost sharing for outpatient services on hospital admissions by exploring a subsidy policy for children's outpatient s...

The development of performance measures in outpatient services is trailing in the wake of an emphasis on inpatient measures. Research was undertaken at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) to determine key areas for the development of performance measures in eye outpatient services from the perspective of three stakeholder groups: clinicians, managers and patients. The study identif...

Beginning in 1984, the long-term trend of increasing utilization of inpatient hospital care by Medicare enrollees reversed. As Medicare patients increasingly received care in outpatient hospital facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, and physicians' offices, the structure of charges for physicians' services changed significantly. Medical services by physicians in inpatient hospitals declined ...

Policy-makers have always found it problematic to formulate fair and consistent counting rules for public hospital outpatient activities. In the context of output-based funding, such rules have consequences which can affect patient care. This paper reviews the rationale for organising multidisciplinary clinics and reports on a series of focus groups convened in four Melbourne teaching hospitals...