Introduction: Primary care organizations are the entities through which clinical governance is developed at local level. To implement clinical governance in primary care, awareness about principles, prerequisites and barriers of this quality improvement paradigm is necessary. The aim of this study is to pool evidence about implementing clinical governance in primary care organizations. Data so...

Primary care is a favourite within certain circles in today's practice of medicine. In particular Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) look at it as one of the major strengths against the growth of technology driven increase in medicaI care. It is aIso seen at certain political leveIs as one way to provide medicaI care to everyone in the community irrespective of income or social leveI. My p...

T otal compensation for senior medical managers in HMOs increased, on average, 5 percent last year — similar to growth rates of previous years. According to a study by the Tampa, Fla.-based Physician Executive Management Center, a physician executive search firm, compensation for these people (medical directors, vice presidents for medical affairs, and physicians with similar titles) varies lit...

Cath volunteers with the PONT Mbale (www.PONT-mbale.org) link and chairs their primary care committeewhich is embedded in a community to community partnership between Rhondda Cynon Taf in SouthWales and a district in Uganda called Mbale. Since 2005,PONThave trained60operational level health workers (OHWs) across three nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), 450 community health workers (CHWs) acr...

Washington State is in the midst of a multi-payer model home test with implications for the nascent national effort to construct new health care payment and delivery systems. The model homes are redesigned primary care medical practices. Their structural supports include additional upfront payments, potential shared savings, and other elements reflective of “accountable care.” Accountable care,...

BACKGROUND The accountable care organization (ACO) is a new organizational form to manage patients across the continuum of care. There are numerous questions about how ACOs should be optimally structured, including compensation arrangements with primary care physicians. METHODS Using data from a national survey of physician practices, we compared primary care physicians' compensation between ...

OBJECTIVES To identify and describe constraints facing the development and dissemination of technologies appropriate for public health care challenges and solutions in the developing world. METHODS Review of lessons learned in development and introduction of numerous health technologies as experienced by a non-profit organization working on technologies for 25 years. RESULTS Many obstacles ...

The same forces that encouraged the expansion of managed care also brought about change in health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Using data from annual surveys of the Association of American Health Plans and other sources, this paper examines ten major changes in the HMO industry during the 1990s, including the growth of for-profit plans and the relative decline of nonprofits; the shift from...