This article investigates impacts of hospital autonomization in Viet Nam employing a “decision-space” framework that examines how hospitals have used their increased discretion and to what effect. Analysis suggests autonomization is associated with increased revenue, increasing staff pay,...

Primary health care is essential to population health and there is increasing need for it, especially with an aging population with multiple comorbidities. Primary health care in the U.S. is widely considered in an ever-deepening crisis. This paper presents a detailed case study of the recent...

Although many study the effects of different allocations of health policy authority, few ask why countries assign responsibility over different policies as they do. We test two broad theories: fiscal federalism, which predicts rational governments will concentrate information-intensive...

The Janani Suraksha Yojana, India's “safe motherhood program,” is a conditional cash transfer to encourage women to give birth in health facilities. Despite the program's apparent success in increasing facility-based births, quantitative evaluations have not found corresponding improvements...

Disparities in unmet health care demand resulting from socioeconomic, racial, and financial factors have received a great deal of attention in the United States. However, out-of-pocket costs alone do not fully reflect the total opportunity cost that patients must consider as they seek medical...

Facing a severe population health crisis due to noncommunicable diseases, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics and Eastern European countries have a pressing need for more effective health systems. Policies to enhance health system effectiveness should consider the perspectives of different...

Nearly 300,000 women die from pregnancy-related complications each year. One-fifth of these deaths occur in India. Maternal survival rose on India's national policy agenda in the mid-2000s, but responsibility for health policy and implementation in the federal system is largely devolved to the...

The articulation of strong evidence and moral arguments about the importance of social determinants of health (SDH) and health equity has not led to commensurate action to address them. Policy windows open when, simultaneously, an issue is recognised as a problem, policy formulation and...

The supply of human organs for transplantation is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Using data from 30 countries for the years 1995–2007, this paper suggests that organ supply today is more dependent on direct donations than on the collective organ pool. This trend is analyzed by studying...

December 2013 marked a significant shift in Bolivia with the enactment of a law for the inclusion of indigenous doctors in the National Health System. This article traces the constellation of forces that led to the institutionalization of indigenous medicine in Bolivia. It identifies three...