This work aims to identify the determinants of health care utilization in Portugal and to quantify their effects. A clear idea about this may help the policy debate on the delivery and organization of health services. Toward this end, we developed an approach based on count data models. We found...

With the election of President Donald Trump, no domestic policy is a bigger target for change than the Affordable Care Act (ACA), former President Obama's signature health insurance law. His very first executive order, signed within hours of being inaugurated, was aimed at rolling back parts of...

This paper analyzes the impact of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on social welfare, when the effects on public health are taken into account. In particular, we study how the new international patent policy affects social welfare through the...

The current and future performance of regional health systems is responsible for increasing health costs and it depends on a wide range of contextual factors. Studies on regional health productive performance and on different health systems are scarce. This paper focuses on the efficiency of...

Traditional Medical practice has witnessed a tremendous growth in the past few decades, and has attracted multidisciplinary academic interest. The increasing acceptance of an alternative health care system has raised the question of the appropriate method of regulation suited to the peculiar...

In addition to causing widespread morbidity and mortality, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed everyday life and has placed an enormous burden on a US healthcare system for which rising costs were already a major concern. Well before the current crisis, there was wide recognition of the need...

The speed and scope of COVID-19 took the United States by surprise. No state was adequately prepared to handle the pandemic, and no federal agencies had enough knowledge to offer sufficient guidance. As the country continues to cope with the crisis, the extent to which regulatory restrictions on...

A key objective of relative performance rankings in healthcare organizations is to motivate physicians to improve the quality of care. Causal evidence regarding the effect of rankings and their design on the effort of physicians, however, is still lacking. We study different ranking schemes...

Medical utilization, such as a count of hospitalizations, is routinely used as a health proxy for both policy and research purposes. Over time, trends in how medicine is practiced has impacted this relationship, as technological improvements or policy changes have altered hospitalizations at the...

There is limited information on whether integrating childhood interventions with health and nutrition services interventions is effective and feasible. In this trial we used group delivery at five routine visits from age 3-18 months, and comprised: short films of child development messages,...