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Biomedical subjects

N Doherty

Publications and source records attributed to N Doherty.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Anatomy of the junction of the vastus lateralis tendon and the patella.

Forty-one knees from adult cadavera (twenty female and twenty-one male) were dissected to study the relationship between the longitudinal axis of the patella and the angles of insertion into it of the vastus lateralis and vastus lateralis obliquus muscles. The mean and variance in the angles of insertion of the vastus lateralis obliquus tendon were found to be significantly different between men and women (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01, respectively). Three distinct anatomical patterns in the insertion of the vastus lateralis obliquus muscle were delineated. The vastus lateralis muscle, particularly the vastus lateralis obliquus, creates an important lateral force-vector on the patella.

Female

Expenditures for the dental care of indigent children in the Chattanooga project, 1971-1975.

This paper is part of a continuing study of the cost of children's dental care in a publicly funded model program. The Program--the Chattanooga Project--was designed to provide information and experience necessary for the development of similar programs elsewhere in the United States. From 1970 to 1975 comprehensive dental care was provided, at no charge, to an average of 5,500 indigent children per year. Children were treated in private practices (39%), public fixed clinics (20%), and public mobile clinics (41%). Costs were defined as public expenditures for purchasing care from private practitioners or producing care in public practices. As a framework for the analysis, program activities and their respective costs were divided into direct and indirect components. The former relate to the provision of care and the latter to noncare-oriented activities. Direct (indirect) costs per patient were $46.56 ($16.31) in private practices, $40.17 ($16.11) in fixed clinics, and $35.49 ($13.41) in mobile clinics. These results substantiate previous findings from a shorter period. A priori reasons for differences among the three modes in terms of patients' health status or the type of care provided have been specified and are currently under investigation.

Adolescent

Cost-effectiveness analysis and alternative health care programs for the elderly.

A generalized cost-effectiveness technique for comparing alternative health care programs is described, and an example is given of its use in evaluating programs for care of the elderly. The analytical method requires setting criteria and standards for each outcome and cost dimension and assessing the relationship between these standards and patient status. The relative effectiveness and costs of each setting are examined in a simple tabular display that allows comparison of each program's attainments on each criterion so that alternatives may be ranked according to the extent to which they meet standards and incur costs.

Aged

Costs of publicly financed dental care for children in three different types of practice settings.

This analysis of the Chattanooga Program has provided preliminary findings on the relative cost of providing dental care through three different modes of care delivery: private practice, public fixed clinics, and public modile clinics. Significant differences in costs were found. It is reasonable to conclude, tentatively, that public services were being used more efficiently than private services in the delivery of dental care involved in this program. The results contest the findings of previous studies which indicated that mobile clinics were relatively inefficient. This study, however, based on a limited time period and refers to a specific program. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to generalize too hastily from the results. At this time, further research is being conducted to extend the period of analysis, and to deal explicitly with differences in patient characteristics, service mixes, and quality, to explain the economic reasons for the apparent differences in efficiency by delivery mode, and to consider the implications of the findings for dental policy.

Child

An economic perspective on dental practice: the economics of increasing practice size.

Group dental practice is a form of organization which can show substantial professional and public benefits. Part of the support for group practice is derived from an extrapolation of the theory of economies of scale. Applied to dentistry, the theory holds that as practices grow they will be able to use their resources more efficiently than do smaller practices, and lower, thereby, the average costs of producing dental services.

Costs and Cost Analysis

Costs of providing dental services for children in public and private practices.

This study compares the costs of providing children's dental services in three practice settings: private practices, public mobile clinics, and public fixed clinics. Some 15,000 children were provided comprehensive dental care over a three-year period. Results indicate that costs per visit and per child were lowest in mobile clinics and highest in private practices. The differential was partially explained by differences in productivity but mostly by the fact that the price of services in public practices represented costs of production, whereas in private practices they represented market values.

Appalachian Region