This paper describes the changes being introduced into the Russian health care system, particularly the introduction of a compulsory social health insurance system which is paralleled by encouragement of independent health insurance. An example of the implementation of these changes is provided...

Irrational prescribing and over-prescription is a world-wide problem. Prescribers often cite patient demand as one of the main reasons why they over-prescribe, but the degree to which this is so is unknown. This article describes a study to test the hypothesis that patient demand causes...