Medicare's resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) was implemented 1 January 1992 for physician payment using a conversion factor of $31 for each relative value unit (RVU). We calculated a conversion factor of $42.24 for The Travelers Insurance Company's group health plan business using the RBRVS methodology and the calendar year 1990 Travelers Large Case Norms Extract of active employees. ...

The purpose of this study was to better understand how partnerships are initiated, maintained, and sustained in public health practice. A qualitative design was employed to conduct individual interviews and focus groups. The participants included practitioners from 6 purposively selected public health units in the Canadian province of Ontario that developed partnerships in program planning. It ...

The objective of this evaluation was to review the evolution and process of city health development planning (CHDP) in municipalities participating in the Healthy Cities Network organized by the European Region of the World Health Organization. The concept of CHDP combines elements from three theoretical domains: (a) health development, (b) city governance and (c) urban planning. The setting wa...

The proposed Part E, Medicare Extra, outlined in this paper adds a comprehensive benefit option to Medicare, eliminating the need for beneficiaries to purchase a private drug plan and Medigap supplemental coverage. Financed by a budget-neutral beneficiary premium, it has the advantages of greater simplicity, efficiency, and value without adding to federal costs. Beneficiaries now enrolled in Me...

There is increasing evidence suggesting that Medicare beneficiaries do not make fully informed decisions when choosing among alternative Medicare health plans. To the extent that deciphering the intricacies of alternative plans consumes time and money; the Medicare health plan market is one in which search costs may play an important role. To account for this, we split beneficiaries into two gr...

"Roemer's Law," the notion that an increase in the number of hospital beds per capita increases hospital utilization rates, is an important underpinning of efforts to control hospital construction through health planning. Attempts to measure the magnitude of the effect have yielded results ranging from no effect to a one-to-one relationship. The present study, by restricting its inquiry to Medi...

Expanding consumer choice of plans is beneficial only to the extent that consumers make informed choices. Using data from the 1996-97 Community Tracking Study (CTS), this study compares consumers' responses on four key attributes of their health plan with information provided directly by the plan. Plan attributes relate to choice of providers and access to specialists. Although the accuracy of ...

The effects of the financial consolidation of Brazil's private health plan market warrants investigation, as this trend could enhance the power of large plans and affect the financing of the National Health System. From the standpoint of the political economics of this sector, while reflecting on the features of this consolidation, this paper discusses whether this more powerful market clout mi...

The debate about social environment, sustainability and health has been highlighted by the interest in social capital. It has been suggested that social capital varies from place to place and that such variations are relevant for explaining variations in health. This paper explores the association between neighbourhood social capital (making a distinction between linking, bonding and bridging s...