Palliative care has been through a difficult development process, but now has the evidence and experience base to make a contribution in the changing health environment. There has now been a great deal of experience with different types of care, and research has shown that patients strongly...

Patients with health insurance do not make the most cost conscious healthcare decisions since they bear only a fraction of the total cost of medical care. Managed care advocates point to financial incentives as a way to reduce wasteful resource use. However, physicians with managed care...

This article describes research-based principles of successful treatment interventions in individuals with co-occurring disorders. These principles are placed in the context of an integrated model of service delivery that utilises a common language or treatment philosophy that makes sense from...

This article exposes and corrects some of the major myths about outsourcing disease management to a specialised expert vendor. Currently, a number of health plan medical directors feel that outsourcing costs more than building internally, will not provide a return on investment, and requires a...

Episodes of care provide a clinically meaningful unit of analysis for measuring both the cost and quality of patient care. Many health plans are currently using episode of care grouping software in cost-focused provider profiling applications. These profiles compare the cost for one provider to...

Objectives: To compare the experience of one managed care organization (MCO) [Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Midwest Region] to the experience of a reference group of 15 other MCOs participating in a study designed to test the usefulness of outcomes management information in developing and...

Increasing healthcare expenditures and other economic pressures mandate fundamental reforms of the healthcare system in Germany. The overall goal is restraint of costs while at the same time maintaining a high standard of medical care. Among all options, managed care represents a potential...

The increasing speed at which new knowledge is generated and disseminated means that we have to learn knew ways of handling this information. Instead of trying to remember information in case we need it at a later date, we need to develop the skills of finding, appraising and using information...

The absence of government regulation in the US has left pharmaceutical companies free to set their own prices based on a number of market considerations. Historically, these have included not only ingredient, research and development costs, but also advertising, the drug's marginal...

Screening programs for sickle cell disease, when effective, can reduce morbidity and mortality as a direct consequence of patient education and optimized clinical management. However, informed patient or parental consent is necessary prior to the screening process as a person's sickle status is...