Healthcare services are more widespread in Latin America and the Caribbean today than 50 years ago, yet this availability is not necessarily reflected in popular perceptions. This study documents the expansion of healthcare services in the region in terms of medically-trained professionals,...

With demographic change, many rural regions in Germany face the challenge to ensure an appropriate provision of basic services, also for the increasing share of immobile population groups. Among others, the growing number of old and very old people will increase the demand for medical care....

It is a big challenge to ensure the ambulatory care in economically underdeveloped, rural areas. Some regions of Brandenburg face a shortage of medical care which is primarily caused by the change of generations, the lack of young people and the little existing infrastructure. In these parts of...

In Germany there is an ongoing debate on the adequate distribution of physicians that are obliged to guarantee the overall access to health care. Especially in rural regions the number of general practioners will decline in the next years. From a health economics point of view it has to be...

General practitioner (GP) care in Germany is characterized by a disparate distribution of GPs. There is considerable oversupply in many urban areas while there is undersupply in many rural regions. Centralized planning of GP capacities so far has not been able to ameliorate this unequal...

Biological drugs revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Access to treatment presents substantial variability across Europe. The economic level of a particular country as well as administrative restrictions have been proved as determining factors of biological drug...

Objective: To assess utilization of ambulatory visits to primary care physicians (PCPs) and to specialists in 2 different managed care models: a closed panel gatekeeper health maintenance organization (HMO) and an open panel point-of-service HMO. Study Design: Retrospective study of patients...

The resources available for healthcare are limited compared with demand, if not need, and all healthcare systems, regardless of their financing and organisation, employ mechanisms to ration or prioritise finite healthcare resources. This paper reviews alternative approaches that can be used to...

To examine gender differences in access to prescribed medicines in 15 lower and middle income countries.