OBJECTIVES To determine what proportion of El Paso (Texas, United States of America) residents access health care services in Mexico, which services they use, and why they cross for care. METHODS A cross-sectional, telephone survey of El Paso County residents was conducted from October-November 2007 to determine use of health care services in Mexico. At total of 2 560 telephone interviews wer...

disconnects and defects in care – such as duplication, poor integration between services or avoidable adverse events – are costly to the health system and potentially harmful to patients and families. for patients living with multiple chronic conditions, such disconnects can be particularly detrimental. lean is an approach to optimizing value by reducing waste (eg, duplication and defects) and ...

BACKGROUND Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions on the U.S.-Mexico Border, and culturally competent diabetes education is not available in many communities. CONTEXT People with diabetes often do not have access to regular medical care, cannot afford medication, and lack the community infrastructure that supports self-management practices. Self-management education and support have great ...

Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) is a growing worldwide phenomenon, raising questions about why assisted reproductive technology (ART) patients travel abroad, what harms and benefits may result, and what duties health care providers may have in advising and treating patients who travel for reproductive services. Cross-border care offers benefits and poses harms to ART stakeholders, includi...

CONTEXT This study is part of the Methods of Assessing Response to Quality Improvement Strategies (MARQuIS) research project on cross-border care, investigating quality improvement strategies in healthcare systems across the European Union (EU). AIM To explore to what extent a sample of acute care European hospitals have implemented patient safety strategies and mechanisms and whether the imp...

OBJECTIVE To compare patient reports about hospital care between western New York State and southern Ontario using a random intercept model. METHOD Cross-sectional survey of 3923 patients who received medical or surgical care between August and October 2004 at 28 hospitals (14 hospitals per jurisdiction). Thirty-five questions were combined to calculate eight indicators with scores ranging fr...

Neil Lunt and Russel Mannion provide an overview of the current state of the medical tourism literature and propose areas for future research in health policy and management. The authors also identify the main unanswered questions in this field ranging from the real size of the medical tourism market to the particular health profiles of transnational patients. In addition, they highlight unexpl...

A 27-year-old Hispanic female, in second trimester of her pregnancy, presented to our emergency department (ER) with gradually worsening shortness of breath. The physical exam was significant for a loud S1, mid-diastolic murmur of mitral stenosis and basilar crackles. A chest X-ray was performed that showed bilateral pulmonary edema and straightening of the left heart border (Figure 1). The ech...