PURPOSE Describe patterns of health care utilization among vulnerable subgroups of an underserved population and identify populations that could benefit from interventions to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care. METHODS Health Information Exchange data focused on underserved patients was used to estimate the risk of an emergency department (ED) or inpatient (IP) visit among v...

OBJECTIVE Children in foster care represent some of the most vulnerable children in the U.S. Their higher prevalence of a range of physical and behavioral health problems can lead to greater health care utilization and higher costs. However, many children in foster care have undiagnosed conditions and unmet needs. The purpose of this study was to provide a description of health services accesse...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to examine and explain the extent of income-related inequity in health care utilization and expenditures to compare the extent in 2005 and 2010 in Korea. METHODS We employed the concentration indices and the horizontal inequity index proposed by Wagstaff and van Doorslaer based on one- and two-part models. This study was conducted using data from the 20...

BACKGROUND Health utilization inequality is a major concern for health policymakers. Equality in utilization of services is very important for having a healthy society. The aim of this study was to describe inequality in dental care utilization in Iran, Therefore, concentration index, its curve, and the predictors of inequality in utilization of dental services and their spending were calculate...

Population-based prescription databases in Nordic countries have become a mainstay of epidemiologic research. Denmark has both national and regional population-based prescription databases. Aarhus University Prescription Database collects data on reimbursed medications dispensed at all community pharmacies of the North Denmark Region and the Central Denmark Region. The regions have a combined p...

reducing wastes in the healthcare processes is crucial for developing a high performance health system. adopted from the toyota production system (tps), the lean concept has emerged in recent years as a way of introducing innovative ideas to improve industrial processes. in the context of health care, lean is considered as a continuous improvement model, which provides healthcare organization t...

INTRODUCTION Northern Ontario is a region in Canada with approximately 775,000 people in communities scattered across 803,000 km(2). The Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) facilitates access to medical care in areas that are often underserved. We assessed how OTN utilization differed throughout the province. MATERIALS AND METHODS We used OTN medical service utilization data collected through ...

BACKGROUND The evaluation of all potential sources of low skilled maternal care utilization is crucial for Ethiopia. Previous studies have largely disregarded the contribution of different levels. This study was planned to assess the effect of individual, communal, and health facility characteristics in the utilization of antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care by a skilled provider. METHODS ...

BACKGROUND Informal (dementia) care has economic consequences throughout the health care system. Whilst the health and wellbeing of the care recipient might improve, the health of the caregiver might also change, typically for the worse. Therefore, this analysis aims to examine the association between caregiving intensity and caregivers' health and health care utilization. DATA AND METHODS Th...