The main objectives of this paper are to review policies on health services and to provide an assessment of public health facilities and the access of people to health care services in Vietnam. Medical facilities and staffs in public establishments have been increasing. Health insurance has been...

European health care systems are facing diverse challenges. In health policy, strong primary care is seen as key to deal with these challenges. European countries differ in how strong their primary care systems are. Two groups of traditionally weak primary care systems are distinguished. First a...

Quality competition among hospitals, induced by patients freely choosing their hospital in a price regulated market, can only be realized if quality differences between hospitals are transparent, understandable, and thus influence patients' hospital choice. We use data from ~145,000 German...

The 1999 reform of the Italian healthcare system has softened the effects of the 1992 shift to market mechanisms and competition within healthcare by promoting cooperation and partnerships among providers and Local Health Units (LHUs). In addition, it has facilitated the completion of...

Diabetes mellitus has considerable and increasing importance in England. The burden of illness is concentrated in ethnic minority groups and socioeconomically deprived areas. Evidence for effective clinical care has increased following the results of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study but current...

If the disease management industry succeeds in producing effective solutions to many of the problems besetting today's healthcare delivery systems (such as misalignment of financial and care incentives, poor customer service, failure to provide useful preventative care, and a dearth of empirical...

The health of the international workforce has been an increasing area of concern for the last two decades. Globalization of the world economy and rapid technological changes continue to change the nature of work and employment practices, exposing employees to new and serious health risks. These...

The National Service Framework for Older People (NSF), published recently by the Department of Health in England, represents a major initiative to improve services for this group of patients. It describes an ambitious 10-year plan to address ageism, person-centered care, hospital care,...

Today, privacy is a concern for many individuals. The United States has followed the path of other countries in strengthening the legislation to protect privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was enacted to provide improved portability of health benefits...