BACKGROUND Universal Zero-Markup Drug Policy (UZMDP) mandates no price mark-ups on any drug dispensed by a healthcare institution, and covers the medicines not included in the China's National Essential Medicine System. Five tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China implemented UZMDP in 2012. Its impacts on these hospitals are unknown. We described the effects of UZMDP on a participating hospital, J...

In recent decades, outpatient commitment orders have been increasingly used in the follow-up of persons with serious mental disorders. Most studies on outpatient commitment orders have focused on compliance and consumption of health care services; there is little research on the content of outpatient commitment orders from a patient perspective. The aim of this study is to examine patients' exp...

BACKGROUND More than half of veterans who use Veterans Health Administration (VA) care are also eligible for Medicare via disability or age, but no prior studies have examined variation in use of outpatient services by Medicare-eligible veterans across health system, type of care or time. OBJECTIVES To examine differences in use of VA and Medicare outpatient services by disability-eligible or...

BACKGROUND Previous research suggested a distance decay effect in health services systems, with people living closer to service facilities being more likely to use them. METHOD In this ecological cross sectional study, we conducted spatial and statistical analyses in a Swiss mental health services system being legally bound to provide primary mental health care to approximately 620,000 inhabi...

BACKGROUND The number of women serving in the United States military increased during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), leading to a subsequent surge in new women Veterans seeking health care services from the Veterans Administration (VA). The objective of this study was to examine gender differences among OEF/OIF Veterans in utilization of VA outpatient health...

the present study aims at locating the appropriate site for the training of medical students. it is argued that in community oriented medical education the training of medical students should take place where more patients come for consultation. this will result in students having a greater exposure to patients with a variety of medical problems. in order to find out the places where more patie...

Current reforms of mental health and substance abuse services (MHS) emphasize community-based care and the downsizing of psychiatric hospitals. Reductions in acute and semi-acute hospital beds are achieved through shortened stays or by avoiding hospitalization. Understanding the factors that drive the current inpatient treatment provision is essential. We investigated how the MHS service struct...

This paper investigates the determinants of regional variations in outpatient antibiotic consumption using Swiss data. The analysis contributes to the debate on appropriate antibiotic use by improving the understanding of its determinants, and may help to define more effective health care policies to reduce the resistance phenomenon. Findings suggest that Switzerland exhibits relatively low lev...

BACKGROUND In 2007-2008, two UK-based organisations, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, published guidelines for the management of care and organisation of outpatient services for women with heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). In 2010, this study was conducted to provide an update on guideline-related services provide...