OBJECTIVE This paper reports the measurement of technical efficiency of Tuscan Local Health Authorities and its relationship with quality and appropriateness of care. DESIGN First, a bias-corrected measure of technical efficiency was developed using the bootstrap technique applied to data envelopment analysis. Then, correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationships among technica...

Substantial racial and ethnic disparities persist in children's health and use of health services in the United States. Although equitable access to primary care services is widely promoted as one of the most feasible remedies to reduce health disparities, there has only recently been an effort to assess its quality, particularly for children. Racial and socioeconomic differences in access to c...

The topic of this presentation is, of course, very vast, and much discussion has occurred in recent years. For example, it is widely recognized that the extension of basic health services to underserved rural areas and slums is essential everywhere. Secondly, it is apparent that this can only be done by means of primary health care (PHC) workers which, in turn, implies that the government of th...

Shortages in, and maldistribution of, the primary health care workforce will continue to limit access to health care. The current health reform proposals and policies recognise workforce development as a priority, but only partially address the barriers to improvement. In particular, there will need to be more systematic development of interdisciplinary education within primary health care serv...

Internationally, there is extensive empirical evidence that a strong primary care-led health system is associated with improved health outcomes, increased quality of care, decreased health inequalities and lower overall health-care costs. Within primary care, factors influencing access to, and utilisation of, general practitioner (GP) services have been widely examined and this paper focuses on...

We suggest that the optimal approach to building capacity in global mental health care will require partnerships between professional resources in high-income countries and promising health-related institutions in low- and middle-income countries. The result of these partnerships will be sustainable academic relationships that can educate a new generation of in-country primary care physicians a...

In recent years, there has been an increased national focus on assessing and improving the quality of health care. This statement provides recommendations and criteria for assessment of the quality of primary care delivered to adolescents in the United States. Consistent implementation of American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations (periodicity of visits and confidentiality issues), renewed ...

BACKGROUND Non-response in health surveys may lead to bias in estimates of health care utilisation. The magnitude, direction and composition of the bias are usually not well known. When data from health surveys are merged with data from registers at the individual level, analyses can reveal non-response bias. Our aim was to estimate the composition, direction and magnitude of non-response bias ...