©2004 Association of Schools of Public Health In 2000, approximately 125 million Americans (45% of the population) had chronic conditions and 61 million (21% of the population) had multiple chronic conditions. The number of people with chronic conditions is projected to increase steadily for the next 30 years. While current health care financing and delivery systems are designed primarily to tr...

______________________________________________________ Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyse the development of productivity and efficiency in the production of hospital care in Finland during the period 1988-1994. A special interest was directed to the impact of health care financing reform in 1993. The analysis is based on the Malmquist index approach using linear programming. Pos...

The implementation of policies remains a huge challenge in many low-income countries. Several factors play a role in this, but improper management of existing knowledge is no doubt a major issue. In this article, we argue that new platforms should be created that gather all stakeholders who hold pieces of relevant knowledge for successful policies. To build our case, we capitalize on our experi...

This overview discusses articles published in this issue of the Health Care Financing Review, entitled "Access to Health Care Services in Rural Areas: Delivery and Financing Issues." These articles focus on the following topics: rural hospitals (including closures, the impact of Federal grants, network development, and costs), managed care in rural areas, telemedicine, and the delivery of menta...

OBJECTIVE To propose a tool to assist trialists in making design decisions that are consistent with their trial's stated purpose. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Randomized trials have been broadly categorized as either having a pragmatic or explanatory attitude. Pragmatic trials seek to answer the question, "Does this intervention work under usual conditions?," whereas explanatory trials are focuse...

OBJECTIVE To identify the effects of decentralization on health financing and governance policies in Mexico from the perspective of users and providers. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out in four states that were selected according to geopolitical and administrative criteria. Four indicators were assessed: changes and effects on governance, financing sources and funds, the final ...

Modelling the likely financial resource requirements and potential sources of revenue for health system reform options is of great potential value to policy-makers. Models provide an indication of the financial feasibility and sustainability of such reforms and highlight the implications of alternative reform paths. There has been increasing use of financial models of health sector reform in re...

The importance of ill-health in perpetuating poverty is well recognized. In order to prevent the damaging downward spiral of poverty and illness, there is a need for a greater level of social protection, with greater cross-subsidization between the poor and wealthy, and the healthy and those with ill-health. The aim of this paper is to examine individual preferences for willingness to pre-pay ...

Those concerned with poverty and health have sometimes viewed equity and human rights as abstract concepts with little practical application, and links between health, equity and human rights have not been examined systematically. Examination of the concepts of poverty, equity, and human rights in relation to health and to each other demonstrates that they are closely linked conceptually and op...