Universal health coverage (UHC) is an integral part of the United Nations sustainable development goals. The private sector plays a prominent role in achieving UHC, being primary source essential medicines for many people. However, healthcare facilities low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have insufficient stocks medicines. Simultaneously, these same carry excessive quantities other drugs,...

Sir, We read with great interest the article by Rutkowski [1] on the epidemiology of renal replacement therapy in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary belongs to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe where private dialysis centres entered into the market at an earlier stage, in the middle of 1990s. From the point of view of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (the o...

BACKGROUND The break-up of the USSR brought considerable disruption to health services in Russia. The uptake of compulsory health insurance rose rapidly after its introduction in 1993. However, by 2000 coverage was still incomplete, especially amongst the disadvantaged. By this time, however, the state health service had become more stable, and the private sector was growing. This paper describ...

OBJECTIVE To develop a tool for estimating hospital-specific inpatient prices for major payers. DATA SOURCES AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases and complete hospital financial reporting of revenues mandated in 10 states for 2006. STUDY DESIGN Hospital discharge records and hospital financial information were merged to estimate revenue per stay by payer. E...