In a recent paper in Health Economics, Stevens, McCabe and Brazier (Health Econ. 2006; <B>15</B>: 527-533.) found that the cubic relationship between Visual Analog Scale (VAS) values and standard gamble (SG) utilities was superior to other functional forms in terms of explanatory power and predictive...</b>

Setting risk-adjusted capitation rates in health systems with centralized financing and decentralized delivery is one of the most intriguing policy issues. The common practice to set capitation group rates is based on individual data collected from either population surveys or medical records,...

Objective: To investigate heterogeneity (systematic and observable variation) in health or health-related quality-of-life reports across population groups, for a given level of `true health'. Design: The investigators undertook full sit-down face-to-face interviews with 1999 individuals...

Uncertainty in the decision-making process for reimbursement of health technologies could be reduced if additional information were available. Although methods to evaluate the monetary value of the uncertainty have been previously described, an economic evaluation of alternative methods to...

A new reimbursement system for general hospitals in Israel was introduced in July 1990. The new system specified that for 15 selected procedures, hospitals would be paid by the insurers prospectively, rather than by the traditional per-diem arrangement. The rates were determined by the Ministry...

Public opinion has become one of the primary inputs in setting priorities, rationing and allocating health resources. The present study focuses on the priorities of the Israeli public aged 45-75 in allocating scarce medical resources between prolonging survival (the 'Rule of Rescue') and...

Many Western nations are implementing (or considering) changes in their health care systems. An integral component of these changes (or debates) refers to the functioning and regulation of the supplementary health insurance market. However, only limited empirical evidence exists on the...

True health state is an unobservable concept. Researchers and practitioners now have access to a large variety of tools to measure the health state and health related quality of life by self-reports. Socio-demographic variation in these measures is usually interpreted as variation in health....