BACKGROUND There is significant need for physician innovation and leadership in health care as we adapt to bundled payment models of health care delivery. METHODS We engaged a collective of 16 different private company orthopedic physician groups to apply to become episode initiators under BPCI models 2 and 3. The application process itself provided historical cost data, enabling each group t...

Inequalities in health and health care are caused by different factors. Measuring "unfair" inequalities implies that a distinction is introduced between causal variables leading to ethically legitimate inequalities and causal variables leading to ethically illegitimate inequalities. An example of the former could be life-style choices, an example of the latter is social background. We show how ...

LEATT, PINK AND GUERRIERE advocate creating integrated healthcare delivery systems in Canada, founded upon primary healthcare. They argue that integration involves organizational structures, financial incentives and information systems. They point to the need to focus on the types of integration occurring at different levels within a system of healthcare and the need to examine the performance ...

Despite a significant global investment in continuing professional education (CPE) in nursing and health care (Jordan, 2000) and a lack of empirical evidence of its effectiveness (Clark, 2005; Attree, 2006), it has nevertheless continued to be a focus of UK government lifelong learning strategies. For example, the Department of Health in England asserted that ‘Every aspect of healthcare deliver...

Scope and Standards of Practice) is a vital resource for every wound, ostomy and continence (WOC) nurse (WOCN, 2010). Recognition as a specialty nursing practice validates the contributions that WOC nursing brings to the health care delivery system in the United States. Accessible to all members of the health care community, the WOCN Scope and Standards of Practice is a reference that documents...

Three separate policy themes have been identified as important for the future development of effective health care in the United Kingdom. These are a focus on the extended primary care team as the prime means of healthcare delivery, improved keeping of patients’ records and communication between professionals, and greater recognition of consumers’ wishes for good quality, well coordinated care....

Patient satisfaction is a goal of effective health care delivery and its assessment is important to the improvement of health care, especially in the context of a more consumerist culture. Patient education and information has been shown to improve patient satisfaction with care. Lack of sufficient patient information (specifically related to post-discharge care) was identified in our patient p...

Healthy Steps over Telemedicine uses telemedicine technology to bring child development services to adolescent parents in an urban school district. Videoconferencing units link teen parents at a Kansas City high school to developmental specialists and physicians at the Kansas University Medical Center (KUMC). Program participants receive developmental services and valuable health care informati...

Key Findings. (1) The Frontier Extended Stay Clinic (FESC) demonstration project provided expanded emergency services and extended clinic stays to remote rural communities. (2) Although the FESC demonstration ended this year, the FESC model may be appropriate in rural communities other than the five original demonstration sites. (3) FESCs may also be alternatives to very low-volume rural hospit...

PHYSICIANS ARE INCREASINGLY being utilized as advisors in various aspects of healthcare delivery. These include utilization review, quality resource management, and clinical documentation improvement. An effective strategy must be used to develop a physician advisor program in the area of clinical documentation, since accurate information has risen in importance due to increased record audits, ...