Vietnam aims to achieve full coverage of health insurance in 2015. An increasing type of health insurance in Vietnam is voluntary health insurance. Although there are many studies on the implementation of voluntary health insurance in Vietnam, little is known on the causal impact of voluntary health insurance. This paper measures the impact of voluntary health insurance on health care utilizati...

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...

background: patient participation means involvement of the patient in decision making or expressing opinions about different treatment methods, which includes sharing information, feelings and signs and accepting health team instructions. objectives: given the importance of patient participation in healthcare decision making which empowers patients and improves services and health outcomes, thi...

Blacks and Latinos are less likely than whites to access health insurance and utilize health care. One way to overcome some of these racial barriers to health equity may be through advances in technology that allow people to access and utilize health care in innovative ways. Yet, little research has focused on whether the racial gap that exists for health care utilization also exists for access...

CONTEXT An understanding of the association between adolescents' sexual and reproductive health knowledge and their use of relevant services is needed to improve young people's sexual and reproductive health. METHODS Data from the National Survey of Family Growth were used to examine associations between sexual and reproductive health communication (parental and formal) and service use among ...

BACKGROUND The prospective cohort study design is ideal for examining diseases of public health importance, as its inherent temporal nature renders it advantageous for studying early life influences on health outcomes and research questions of aetiological significance. This paper will describe the development and characteristics of the All Our Babies (AOB) study, a prospective pregnancy cohort...

BACKGROUND Understanding the predictors of a quick death following diagnosis may improve timely access to palliative care. The objective of this study was to explore whether factors in the 24 months prior to a colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis predict a quick death post-diagnosis. METHODS Data were from a longitudinal study of all adult persons diagnosed with CRC in Nova Scotia, Canada, from ...

BACKGROUND The private sector plays a large role in health services delivery in low- and middle-income countries; yet significant gaps remain in the quality and accessibility of private sector services. Clinical social franchising, which applies the commercial franchising model to achieve social goals and improve health care, is increasingly used in developing countries to respond to these limi...

Background The household registration system in China places migrants in a vulnerable status regarding access to local public services, including limited access to health services. Most studies on migrants' health services utilization targeted on working-age migrants, and there has been a paucity of studies conducted among elderly migrants. This study aims to investigate the status of health se...

This article provides an econometric analysis of health care utilization in Vietnam based on the individual and household level data from the 1997-98 Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS). We focus on the major features of health care utilization patterns, including especially the determinants of largely self-prescribed use of pharmaceutical drugs, the use of government hospitals, commune heal...