Reduction mammaplasty has long been performed for the correction of symptoms associated with macromastia and for psychosocial reasons. With rising health care costs, there is increased scrutiny of the relative cost and/or benefit of many therapeutic interventions with the view to determining who or what does and does not get covered by insurance plans. When the present study was first proposed,...

Medical savings accounts (MSAs) belong to a larger class of incentive-based health care plans. Using a model that allows the consumer to invest in healthy activities, we examine the efficiency properties of incentive plans and compare them to traditional full-coverage and deductible plans, under both experience rating and community rating. The model also is extended to include utilization of pr...

introduction: in any organization particularly in health care centers, the clients' satisfaction provides the conditions to achieve the pre-determined objectives. one of the ways to get the clients' satisfaction is to follow the clients' takrim plan. to this end, in this article, the clients' takrim plan was studied in health centers affiliated with oil industry organization. methods and materi...

When developing a nursing plan of care, a perioperative nurse identifies nursing diagnoses during the preoperative patient assessment. The ability to identify age-specific outcomes (ie, infant/child, adolescent, adult, elderly adult) in addition to those that are universally applicable is a major responsibility of the perioperative RN. Having an individualized plan of care is one of the best wa...

Objective. The purpose of this study was to validate the effectiveness of a Multimedia Case History Program (MCHP) designed for pharmacy students to simulate a case-history taking session. Methods. Seventy-nine undergraduate pharmacy students used an MCHP that presented an asthmatic or diabetic patient. Of these, 52 students also volunteered to interview a researcher in a face-to-face simulatio...

Children with complex health conditions require care from a large, diverse set of caregivers that includes parents and community support organizations as well as multiple types of medical professionals. Coordination of their care is essential for good outcomes, and extensive research has shown that the use of integrated, team-based care plans improves care coordination. Care plans, however, are...

Beginning January 2006, Medicare beneficiaries will have limited ability to change health plans. We examine the Medicare managed care enrollment and disenrollment behavior of traditionally vulnerable beneficiaries from 1999-2001 to estimate the potential impact of the new enrollment restrictions. Findings that several such groups were more likely to make multiple health plan elections, leave th...

BACKGROUND In Australia people with a diagnosed chronic condition can be managed on unique funded care plans that allow the recruitment of a multidisciplinary team to assist in setting treatment goals and adequate follow up. In contrast to the World Health Organisation, the North American and European Medical Associations, the Australian Medical Association does not recognise obesity as a chron...