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The development and implementation of health policy: New Zealand and Hong Kong compared.

Contemporary health sector reform is frequently underpinned by market-influenced public policy "prescriptions." Such prescriptions provide details of what policies ought to look like, but little by way of how they should be implemented. This article compares the experience of New Zealand and Hong Kong, two locations in which recent health reforms were based upon the policy prescription. Where the respective health policies bear similarities, implementation styles differ with interesting consequences. New Zealand's apparent "success" in implementation may ultimately prove counterproductive; it seems more likely that Hong Kong, whose implementation success has been, to date, moderate, will achieve objectives of providing a better public health service.

Health Care Reform↗

When do developing countries adopt managed care policies and technologies? Part I: Policies, experience, and a framework of preconditions.

OBJECTIVE: For developing countries with constrained economic resources, managed care holds out the promise of being able to control healthcare costs and reduce unnecessary utilization. However, little empirical evidence has been gathered about when managed care techniques can be applied to these countries and no framework considers the macroeconomic context. We propose a straightforward method to evaluate the economic and policy environment of a developing country to assess when managed care might be introduced. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Analysis of available developing country health system and healthcare spending data, review of the available literature, and authors' experience evaluating healthcare reforms in developing countries. RESULTS: Many countries have implemented managed care techniques, which are driven by policy efforts to increase quality or to control costs. Successful implementation of managed care, however, appears to depend on five major preconditions. One precondition is an adequately developed formal wage sector in which patients have a sufficient ability to pay for healthcare services. Another is an adequate labor supply of trained professionals to support managed care administration, foster competition, and use available information technology. CONCLUSIONS: Although managed care encompasses a range of incentives and arrangements, implementation in developing countries appears to depend on attaining macroeconomic preconditions.

Developing Countries↗

A descriptive study of the implementation of the EFQM excellence model and underlying tools in the Basque Health Service.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the implementation of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model as a common framework for quality management in a regional health care service. DESIGN: Prospective, descriptive observational study. SETTING: Thirty-one organizations (hospitals, primary care organizations, mental health institutions, and emergency services) of the Basque Health Service (serving a population of 2200000 inhabitants) in Basque Country, Spain. METHODS: Since 1995, the experiences with the EFQM excellence model were initiated by training, the design of quality tools and application guidelines, and actions related to criteria of the EFQM model. RESULTS: Four assessment cycles in which most of the organizations have participated were completed. Scores for most of the criteria improved, particularly in 'processes'. The overall patients' satisfaction was higher than 89% in all settings, in most of the cases higher than 95%. Ten organizations (32%) exceeded 400 points in an external evaluation with the EFQM excellence model, and 2 (6%) 500 points. Eighty-three percent of hospitals have some ISO-certified areas of activity. In the primary care setting, 40% of people were attended in a certified center. CONCLUSIONS: Stimulating actions towards quality have resulted in progressive implementation of the EFQM model, this approach being possibly related to positive evolution of some outcomes. Key factors identified have been pursuing the objective of total quality management during several years and the assignment of the resources for training and implementation of quality systems.

Benchmarking↗

From policy to praxis--a framework for the delivery of district mental health care in KwaZulu-Natal.

This article provides a schema for the provision of mental health care at district level. A framework for service delivery was derived from research conducted by the Community Mental Health Programme (CMHP) into the development of aspects of a district mental health care system in a semi-rural community area in KwaZulu-Natal. Furthermore, information was drawn from interviews with key stakeholders, national and provincial policy documents as well as international experience in the implementation of community-based systems of mental health care.

Community Mental Health Services↗

[Effects of the implementation of Universal Access with Explicit Guaranties (AUGE) Plan on the quality of care of patients with terminal renal failure].

BACKGROUND: The implementation of the AUGE plan for renal failure in Chile in August 2002, generated larger waiting list for outpatient care. AIM: To analyze the incidence of terminal renal failure, the proportion of patients that were admitted to hemodialysis using a definitive vascular access and the lapse of use of transitory catheters, before and after the implementation of AUGE in Calama. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Since 1999, in a dialysis center of Calama, all new patients that are admitted to hemodialysis and the type of vascular access they have are registered. Using this registry, the incidence of terminal renal failure and the lapse between the admission to the center and the installation of a definitive vascular access were calculated for the period 2000 to 2005. RESULTS: From January 2000 to December 2003, the incidence of terminal renal failure was stable in 190 +/- 21 patients per million inhabitants (ppmh). It decreased between January and September 2004 to 124 +/- 18.6. Afterwards, it progressively increased to 221 +/- 21 ppmh. In the study period, the proportion of patients admitted to hemodialysis with a definitive access decreased from 63 to 10% (p<0.01) and the mean lapse of transitory catheter use, increased from 32.9 +/- 42.6 to 73.1 +/- 80.4 days (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of AUGE for chronic renal failure reduced the quality of care of patients admitted to hemodialysis.

Analysis of Variance↗

Military deployment health surveillance policy and its application to Special Operations Forces.

An evaluation research methodology was used to determine whether deployment health surveillance for Special Operations Forces conformed with Department of Defense policy directives for the specified target population. Data for this methodology were based on pre- and postdeployment health assessments as well as patient encounters recorded during deployments. The data represented 1,094 individual and unique Special Operations Forces members deployed to 12 different countries from October 2000 through December 2001. Results from the study suggested that military deployment health surveillance policy goals for predeployment medical referrals, patient data capture, and documentation during the deployment and postdeployment medical referrals were being poorly met when Department of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff mandates were applied to Special Operations Forces in an unconventional operations environment. Preliminary evaluation indicates that deployment health surveillance implementation could be improved with the introduction of policy awareness education, training, and technology.

Health Plan Implementation↗

Medicaid managed behavioral health in rural areas.

As of 2000, 21 states had implemented Medicaid managed behavioral health (MMBH) programs for a significant portion of their rural population. It is not clear how MMBH programs may work in rural areas since they are primarily designed to control mental health utilization. In rural areas the challenge is often to enhance service delivery, not to reduce it. MMBH programs may also affect important features of rural delivery systems, including access to care and coordination of primary care and specialty mental health providers. This article describes the implementation of MMBH programs in rural areas based on an inventory of states implementing MMBH programs in rural counties conducted between June 1999 and June 2000. The experience of MMBH programs in rural areas is also described based on case studies conducted in six states. All 21 states included the general Medicaid population (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families); 17 states included special Medicaid populations (adults with serious and persistent mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances). Slightly less than half the states integrated (carved-in) behavioral health with physical health services in serving the general Medicaid population; only one state integrated these services for the special Medicaid population. Access to mental health care in rural areas had generally not been restricted. MMBH had little impact on the linkage between primary care and mental health. Local Managed Behavioral Health Organizations, formed by public sector entities and providers, played an increasingly important role in the evolution of MMBH.

Adult↗

Strategies for promoting organizational and practice change by advancing implementation research.

BACKGROUND: The persistence of a large quality gap between what we know about how to produce high quality clinical care and what the public receives has prompted interest in developing more effective methods to get evidence into practice. Implementation research aims to supply such methods. PURPOSE: This article proposes a set of recommendations aimed at establishing a common understanding of what implementation research is, and how to foster its development. METHODS: We developed the recommendations in the context of a translation research conference hosted by the VA for VA and non-VA health services researchers. IMPACTS: Health care organizations, journals, researchers and academic institutions can use these recommendations to advance the field of implementation science and thus increase the impact of clinical and health services research on the health and health care of the public.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗

Policy, structural change and quality of psychiatric services in Australia: the views of psychiatrists.

OBJECTIVE: Given that 10 years have elapsed since the implementation of Australia's National Mental Health Strategy, the aim of the paper was to ascertain the views of the country's psychiatrists about changes in mental health services. METHODS: A survey was mailed to all Fellows of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists living in Australia; 1039 out of 2059 (50%) returned the questionnaire. RESULTS: Private care has not changed much in the last 5 years, but the quality in public psychiatric services has deteriorated. While 67% of private practitioners, 46% of psychiatrists with mixed practice, 39% of exclusively public psychiatrists and 27% of academics believed public practice had deteriorated, only 18% of psychiatrist administrators believed that to be the case. Daily or weekly problems admitting patients to hospital was reported by 40% of psychiatrists working in the public system. Public psychiatrists believed that they now treat more patients who are more disturbed, more acute and more demanding. However, they see their patients less often, provide less psychotherapy and use more medication. Administrative demands have increased. CONCLUSIONS: According to psychiatrists, implementation of the National Mental Health Strategy has not yet resulted in better psychiatric care in the public health system.

Australia↗

[Implementation of health insurance reform].

Authors expose in the first part of this article practical modes to implement the health insurance reform under the angle of the mastery of care expenses, at the micro and the macroeconomic levels. Thus they pass in review the different possibilities to master expenses, at the supply and the demand sides, by identifying advantages and risks of each of they and by specifying orientations of the health insurance reform in this area: the moderating ticket, contractual payment methods of hospitals and health professionals, the path of care, the refund of care expenses, the rationalization of consumption of medicines and complementary examinations and the harmonious development of care supply by a better public and private mix. A particular accent is put on preliminaries and implementation conditions of the prospective payment of providers and organizational conditions of care provision, from general practitioner that would become the main entry of the care system. In a second part, authors pass in review organization and management conditions of social security bodies, needed for the health insurance reform implementation. On the basis of decentralization and a three levels organization (local, regional and central), social security bodies will put in place the most appropriate organization to insure a steady efficient implementation of the health insurance reform, in dialogue with stakeholders. Consultative committees at regional and central levels, regrouping all the intervening in the health insurance, will be instituted. The sought-after objective through this organization is to administer the health insurance, at the strategic, decisional and operational levels, with suppleness, as a changing and dynamic project, in function of flexibility imperatives necessary for the reform implementation.

Cost Control↗

Changing health care, one phone call at a time.

Demand management is an approach to providing health care benefits that is designed to help beneficiaries receive the appropriate level of care at the appropriate time. When this is accomplished, health care expenditures are reduced. This case study shows how a large union health plan implemented a demand management program that has been well received by its members and has been effective in helping to control plan costs.

Cost Savings↗

Implementing a stroke rehabilitation area: the first six months.

AIMS: To describe the development of a stroke rehabilitation area (SRA) for the elderly. METHODS: Key steps in establishing the SRA are outlined. Using a before and after study design, outcomes, including length of stay (LOS) in hospital and discharge domicile, were measured. RESULTS: Difficulties in changing service delivery within a large organisation are outlined. Median LOS in hospital was reduced significantly by 8.0 days, without adversely affecting discharge domicile. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that implementing a SRA in a New Zealand health setting is feasible and can significantly reduce LOS.

Aged↗

[Quality assurance and total quality management in residential home care].

Quality, quality assurance, and quality management have been important topics in residential care homes for several years. However, only as a result of reform processes in the German legislation (long-term care insurance, care quality assurance) is a systematic discussion taking place. Furthermore, initiatives and holistic model projects, which deal with the assessment and improvement of service quality, were developed in the field of care for the elderly. The present article gives a critical overview of essential developments. Different comprehensive approaches such as the implementation of quality management systems, nationwide expert-based initiatives, and developments towards professionalizing care are discussed. Empirically based approaches, especially those emphasizing the assessment of outcome quality, are focused on in this work. Overall, the authors conclude that in the past few years comprehensive efforts have been made to improve the quality of care. However, the current situation still requires much work to establish a nationwide launch and implementation of evidence-based quality assurance and quality management.

Aged↗

Organizational capacity and implementation change: a comparative case study of heart health promotion in Ontario public health agencies.

This paper reports the results of a comparative case study that examines factors influencing changes in implementation of heart health promotion activities in Ontario public health units. The study compared two cases that experienced large changes in implementation from 1994 to 1996, but in opposite directions. Multiple data sources were used, with an emphasis on secondary analyses of quantitative surveys of health units and other community agencies, and in-depth interviews of public health staff, collected as part of the Canadian Heart Health Initiative Ontario Project. Guided by social ecological and organizational theories, changes in implementation were explained by examining changes in (1) organizational predisposition to undertake heart health promotion activities, (2) organizational practices to undertake these activities, (3) other internal organizational factors and (4) external system factors. Findings show that in communities with diverse characteristics, implementation change was most strongly influenced by an interplay of changes in internal features of public health agencies; notably, leadership, structure and staff skills. Findings support a social ecological approach to health promotion by demonstrating the importance of the institutional context in the implementation change process, the interaction of individual (skills) and organizational (structure) levels in explaining implementation change, and community context in shaping the change process. Findings also reinforce the value of strengthening capacity within public health agencies and suggest further research on the implementation change process, especially in different systems and over longer periods of time.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗

Navigating the road to implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has a profound impact on safety net providers. To help agencies afford expert consultation and provide the opportunity for collaboration, a regional health foundation has created the first model in the nation to bring together safety net providers to work toward implementation of the HIPAA.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Measuring the implementation of health promotion programs: the case of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program in Maryland.

This paper introduces critically important issues and benefits for measuring the extent and processes of program implementation when conducting and studying health education and health promotion programs. These methods are illustrated with reference to the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program in Maryland. We suggest using a chain of events research paradigm rather than confining community intervention research to the more frequently used experimental model. Combined roles as researchers and technical advisors serve complementary functions of gathering relevant, valid information about implementation and making these data useful to program managers. Measures of implementation should be used to examine the detailed delivery of program components, to assess organizational and environmental processes influencing the extent of implementation and to analytically link variations in program delivery to desired short-term outcomes. Measuring these processes is needed to move implementation research for health promotion programs beyond an anecdotal set of case stories about implementation problems to a fully developed area of research-based knowledge.

Breast Neoplasms↗