There is now conclusive evidence to support the widely prescribed application of disease management programs in heart failure care. These strategies result in significant improvement in many barometers of care, including admission rates, prescription of disease modifying therapy, and improved...

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...

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...

The poor efficacy and tolerability of conventional antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia, together with discovery of the

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...

Pay-for-performance schemes share the common approach of offering financial incentives to healthcare providers for achieving specified performance targets. Such schemes are becoming increasingly popular with healthcare policy makers and funders worldwide, despite a relative lack of evidence on...

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, contributing to high medical expenditures, poor clinical outcomes, low productivity, and compromised quality of life. Efficacious treatments are available for the treatment of depression across a broad age range...

The rapid expansion of disease management continues. A multitude of stakeholders and marketplaces are now involved in providing cost effective quality healthcare for individuals and populations. To help you keep up-to-date with the very latest developments in disease management, this section of...

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a World Wide Web-enabled asthma self-management intervention on quality-of-life indicators among self-selected participants with asthma. Design: A quasi-experimental design was used in which quality-of-life outcome indicators were derived from the Mini Asthma...