People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of way of doing things. In 2003 the Seattle based retailer, Nordstrom, opened a new store on Chicago's trendy North Michigan Avenue. Unlike the department stores of old that carried a vast array of consumer goods, the new Nordstrom is a large shoe store, accompanied by a number of small cosmetic...

This review examines the effect of unanticipated admission, return hospital visits and readmission on the economics of ambulatory surgery. The overall rate of unanticipated admission was approximately 1% and the overall rate of readmission to hospital was approximately 1%. Ambulatory surgery allows total cost savings of 20-50% when compared with inpatient surgery. If 98% of ambulatory surgery p...

In response to the special focus section on patient safety and quality improvement, I am writing to introduce a potentially new area of focus for quality improvement regarding resident education. I am a resident physician in a program that depends on a consortium of 4 hospital systems for training, 3 of which are private hospitals. I have no background in economics, but I have been perceptive e...

a Department of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States b Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States c Center for Outcomes Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States d Center for Perinatal and Pediatric Health Disparities Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Phila...

Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland Department of Social Pharmacy (Centre for Pharmaceutical Policy and Economics), University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland ESiOR Oy, P.O. Box 1188, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Kuopio, Finland Department of Forensic Mental Health Science...

Intensive care units (ICUs) have become an increasingly important part of the American health care delivery system. In 2000, critical care cost $55.5 billion—13.3 percent of total hospital costs and half a percent of the United States’ gross domestic product. As the population continues to age and the severity of hospital cases continues to increase, the role of the intensive care in hospital e...

BACKGROUND An increasing number of centers are using active rehabilitation and ambulation for critically ill patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge to lung transplantation. This investigation assessed the economic impact at a single center of ambulatory versus non-ambulatory ECMO strategies as a bridge to lung transplantation. METHODS We conducted a single-center r...

This paper analyses the role of financial variables in the conduct of monetary policy. In the baseline model for the analysis of interest rules, the inflation rate depends on the output gap, which is solely determined by its own lags and the lagged short-term real interest rate. However, from a theoretical point of view there are several other financial variables which may affect aggregate dema...

BACKGROUND Assessing the impact of cost sharing on healthcare utilization is a critical issue in health economics and health policy. It may affect the utilization of different services, but is yet to be well understood. OBJECTIVE This paper investigates the effects of reducing cost sharing for outpatient services on hospital admissions by exploring a subsidy policy for children's outpatient s...

INTRODUCTION Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) is a globally recommended treatment for acute ischemic stroke patients. We examined IV tPA use among patients aged 18-64 years with a primary diagnosis acute ischemic stroke in the US and inpatient costs per hospitalization by IV tPA use status among these patients. METHODS Using 2010-2013 MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounte...