The volume of vaccine analytical literature is notable (the journal Vaccine alone having published 231 trials on diVerent vaccines between 1983 and 1994 ). However, to date little attention has been paid to summarising and evaluating its significance in the assessment of vaccine quality (defined as eYcacy, eVectiveness, eYciency, safety, and acceptability). Quality assessment is important as va...

The article by Rock et al in this issue of Pediatrics highlights an important issue surrounding the challenge of high health care costs in the United States: the lack of knowledge by physicians of cost of care. Their research provides 3 key messages that can inform future health care policies. First, physicians generally have limited knowledge regarding health care finances. As noted by Rock et...

Employer surveys (eg, the 2011 Automatic Data Processing Survey) suggest that the most often-cited reasons for offering these programs include improved employee health, health care cost control, increased productivity, and absenteeism reduction. Each of these reasons is quantifiable, and their value can be monetized, allowing for a calculation of savings and an estimation of a return on investm...

OBJECTIVE To measure the differences in direct health care costs and resource utilization among female enrollees in a health maintenance organization who were aged 45 through 65 years and had either osteoporosis or an osteoporosis-related fracture. METHODS One year of medical and pharmacy claims (October 1, 1998, to September 30, 1999) from a mixed-model health plan located in the Midwest wer...

This article provides an up-to-date assessment of China’s reformed urban healthcare system. It illustrates that, in the Chinese case, economic growth does not automatically bring equitable healthcare protection; policy and system designs are also important. The article finds that the reformed urban healthcare system is financially sustainable, but that individual citizens contribute the largest...

PURPOSE To estimate medical and indirect costs to the Department of Defense (DoD) that are associated with tobacco use, being overweight or obese, and high alcohol consumption. DESIGN Retrospective, quantitative research. SETTING Healthcare provided in military treatment facilities and by providers participating in the military health system. SUBJECTS The 4.3 million beneficiaries under a...

In an era of rapidly rising health care costs, physicians and policymakers are searching for new and effective ways to contain health care spending without sacrificing the quality of services provided. These proposals are increasingly articulated in terms of an ethical duty of stewardship. The duty of stewardship in medicine, however, is not at present well understood, and it is frequently conf...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of a comprehensive periodic health examination programme on health care utilisation and costs in a working population. DESIGN A cohort method was used to observe the trends in health care utilisation and costs for a group of local government employees from 1 February 1986 until 31 January 1992, during which time (in 1988) a comprehensive periodic health e...

OBJECTIVE To determine the ability of the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) Scorecard to predict changes in health care expenditures. METHODS Individual employee health care insurance claims data for 33 organizations completing the HERO Scorecard from 2009 to 2011 were linked to employer responses to the Scorecard. Organizations were dichotomized into "high" versus "low" scoring...

The know-how is available to reverse the obesity epidemic. Reversing obesity is a societal necessity because it is the predominant contributor to chronic ill health in developed countries and a growing precipitant of illness in middle and low-income countries. In the United States, for example, obesity is the chief driver of health care costs in a country that can no longer afford health care. ...