Co-opting physicians to regulate Fee-for-Service (FFS) payment is more feasible and simpler to administer than capitation, Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) and pay-for-performance. The key lies in designing and revising the fee schedule, which not only defines and sets the fee for each item, but...

Quality adjustment weights for quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are available with the EQ-5D Instrument, which are based on a survey that quantified the preferences of the British public. However, the extent to which this British value set is applicable to other, especially non-European,...

Background: Treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus consists of dietary and exercise therapy, administration of oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin treatment for each stage. Compliance/adherence by patients to drug therapy and self care in their daily lives, not only in the stage of dietary and...

A survey covering all the elderly over 65 years of age at home and in institutions was made in a rural town of Japan in order to reveal the physical and socio-psychological factors which were related to their current placement status. The proportion of those over 65 in this town is 13%, of which...