The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is intended to enhance reimbursement of health care providers for meaningful use of electronic health records systems. This presents both opportunities and challenges for public health departments. To earn incentive payments, clinical providers must exchange specified types of data with the public health system, such as imm...

Research objectives Singapore introduced Casemix-based financing for inpatient and day-surgery cases in the public sector in 1999. The application of Casemix has since been extended beyond financing to fields such as benchmarking, clinical quality and utilization review. Casemix data has been invaluable in enabling the tracking and better understanding of quality of care of healthcare providers...

Global infrastructure reports suggest that, in the wake of the fiscal crisis, healthcare Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are seen as a growing area as governments switch attention to social welfare projects. Spain is unique in having had a PPP hospital in operation for over a decade which is funded through a capitation fee. This paper takes a critical approach to evaluate the project, with o...

BACKGROUND With the recognition that public hospitals are often productively inefficient, reforms have taken place worldwide to increase their administrative autonomy and financial responsibility. Reforms in China have been some of the most radical: the government budget for public hospitals was fixed, and hospitals had to rely on charges to fill their financing gap. Accompanying these changes ...

BACKGROUND The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has defined knowledge translation (KT) as a dynamic and iterative process that includes the synthesis, dissemination, exchange, and ethically-sound application of knowledge to improve the health of Canadians, provide more effective health services and products, and strengthen the healthcare system. CIHR, the national health research f...

Public private partnerships (PPP) are an established model for most governments internationally to provide infrastructure-based services, using private finance. Typically the public authority will sign a contract with a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which, because of the holistic nature of PPP, in turn sub-contracts the finance, design, construction, maintenance and soft services to companies ...

An analysis of the participation of social and political actors in the process of formulating health policy allows one to understand the specific characteristics of the organization and operation of a health system. This study analyzes the drafting process for the General Health Act (LGS) in Spain with the purpose of establishing the relationship between social, political, and economic actors i...

In 1995, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Public Health Service (PHS) recommended that special attention be given to the information needs of unaffiliated public health professionals. In response, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region initiated a collaborative outreach program for public health professionals working in rural east and central ...

The preceding chapter set out a brief chronology of the SARS outbreak as it affected Canada. The SARS experience illustrated a variety of issues, some to do with the health services system, but many others to do with public health and the interface between public health and clinical care. Except in cases of sudden threats to the health of communities such as Walkerton, North Battleford, or SARS...