Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Resource Allocation”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,153 records · Page 64Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

New developments in international nursing ethics.

This article has described numerous activities in nursing ethics at international levels. It acknowledges the larger context within which nurses practice by focusing on selected issues involved in resource allocation and death and dying, cross-culturally. The questions raised about universally shared moral principles reflects the larger questions of cultural and ethical relativism. The discussions of new developments in international nursing ethics focuses on international conferences, the teaching of nursing ethics, national nursing associations, and other professional groups that are actively involved in health care or nursing ethics. Finally, the development of international nursing ethics research studies is providing new knowledge about the scope of ethics within nursing and the nature of nursing care worldwide. Nurses are involved in some aspects of these new developments in nursing ethics in all countries. As they examine and reflect on ethical principles, virtues, and on an ethics of caring, they bring a new dimension to their work as nurses. This new dimension stands as one of the oldest and most central foundations in professional nursing.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed2003

The impact of decentralisation on sexual and reproductive health services in Ghana.

This paper analyses the impact of decentralisation on the political organisation, management and provision of sexual and reproductive health services in Ghana. It draws on qualitative research and interviews with key informants from the Ministry of Health, donors, NGOs, regional and district health management teams, local government and community leaders. Within a national reproductive health policy framework, previously disparate family planning, maternal and child health, STI and HIV/AIDS programmes have become more integrated, and donors have pooled or co-ordinated their funding. Some decision-making about resource allocation is meant to happen at district and regional level but in practice, this remains centrally controlled, which may be a necessary safeguard for sexual and reproductive health services. Earmarked donor funds still ensure a regular supply of contraceptives and STI drugs. However, paying for these is problematic at local level. Sexual and reproductive health staff make up a large proportion of primary health care staff, but especially in rural areas they experience poor working conditions, and there is high turnover and vacancies. District and sub-district level links are working well in this new system, but clarity is still needed on how different national sexual and reproductive health bodies relate to each other and to regional and district health authorities. The development of formal mechanisms for priority setting and advocacy at local levels could help to secure benefits for sexual and reproductive health care.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2002

The role of adaptation to disability and disease in health state valuation: a preliminary normative analysis.

Chronically ill and disabled patients generally rate the value of their lives in a given health state more highly than do hypothetical patients imagining themselves to be in such states. Much of this difference may be due to actual patients' adaptation to their health states, a phenomenon that would not typically affect the ratings of persons who only hypothetically imagine themselves to be patients. This article pursues a non-empirical, normative question: does such adaptation render actual patients' ratings of quality of life morally questionable for purposes of resource allocation? Distinguishing the different basic elements in patient adaptation reveals why, and in what respects, people are pulled strongly in opposite directions in responding to this question. Several more explicit moral arguments against using adapted patients' ratings have been articulated by economists and philosophers, and others are developed by the authors. While most of these arguments do not survive careful analysis, several do. Given the subsequent complexity of the matter, it is argued that: (1) Neither solely actual nor solely hypothetical patient perspectives should be used for rating quality of life. (2) Even if representatives of the general public acting as hypothetical patients provide ultimately the best perspective from which to discern societal values about health states, patients' values that are often influenced by adaptation must still be conveyed to and clearly understood by public representatives as a critically important fact about health-related quality of life. The article also points to the need for much additional work on adaptation, both empirical research and normative analysis.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Financing of health care in four Caribbean territories: a comparison with reforms in Europe.

This paper considers health care finance in four Caribbean territories and plans for reform in comparison with developments in European countries, to which these territories are historically linked. European health care reforms are aimed at making resource allocation in health care more efficient and more responsive to consumers' demands and preferences. These reforms in Europe have been continuing without appearing to have influenced the developments in the Caribbean very much, except in Martinique. In Trinidad and Tobago current reform entails delegation of responsibility for providing services to four regional health authorities and no purchaser/provider split at the regional or facility level as in the UK has been implemented. In the Bahamas, managed care arrangements are likely to emerge given the proximity of the United States. Recent universal coverage reform in Martinique was aimed at harmonisation of finance by bringing social security and social aid functions together under one management structure and may provide more opportunities for contracting and other initiatives towards greater efficiency. The first priority in Suriname is to restore proper functioning of the current system. Reforms in the four Caribbean territories have a largely administrative character and affect the organisation of the third party role in health care rather than fundamentally changing the relationship between this third party and the various other parties in health care.

Bahamas↗
PubMed2004

A risk-adjusted approach to comparing the return on investment in health care programs.

The league table approach to rank ordering health care programs according to the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is a common method to guide policy makers in setting priorities for resource allocation. In the presence of uncertainty, however, ranking programs is complicated by the degree of variability associated with each program. Confidence intervals for cost-effectiveness ratios may be overlapping. Moreover, confidence intervals may include negative ratios and the interpretation of negative cost-effectiveness ratios is ambiguous. We suggest to rank mutually exclusive health care programs according to their rate of return which is defined as the net monetary benefit over the costs of the program. However, how does a program with a higher expected return but higher uncertainty compare to a program with a lower expected return but lower risk? In the present paper we propose a risk-adjusted measure to compare the return on investment in health care programs. Financing a health care program is treated as an investment in a risky asset. The risky asset is combined with a risk-free asset in order to construct a combined portfolio. The weights attributed to the risk-free and risky assets are chosen in such a manner that all programs under consideration exhibit the same degree of uncertainty. We can then compare the performance of the individual programs by constructing a risk-adjusted league table of expected returns.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1989

Choosing who shall not be treated in the NHS.

In the face of severe resource constraints, health care systems are seeking both to control costs and to ensure maximum benefits for the resources consumed. The use of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) is becoming more widely advocated as a decision aid in the solution of resource allocation problems. The QALY combines two dimensions of health outcome--the quantity of life and its quality--in such a way that choices between different services with different purposes can be made using comparisons based on common units of measurement. The combination of these two dimensions allows comparisons between services with different objectives, such as curing and caring services. The QALY, however, lacks a third dimension which is vital to the decision-making process to which it is intended to contribute: the worth of a specific life relative to others. This paper presents results based on interviews of 719 residents of Cardiff drawn at random from the electoral register. The results suggest that further development of the novel methodology used to establish the relative value placed on various human lives is worthwhile. Evidence is given which indicates that the public consider lives to be of unequal worth. The results also show that these values are consistent for different types of choices phrased in different ways on a large number of control variables, implying the existence of a cultural stable value system which is a necessary prerequisite if consensus values of human life are to be used to assist decision-making in non-private health care systems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Facing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mexico: the response of the health sector].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the challenges and accomplishments of the Mexican health system as it faced the HIV/AIDS epidemic over the 20 years since discovery of the virus. METHODS: A review of the relevant literature was done. The topics revised were: HIV/AIDS epidemiology, the early response of the health system and civil society, prevention and risk behaviors, care and treatment, and financing and resources allocation. DISCUSSION: In Mexico a rapid initial public response surely contributed to containing any early spread of the epidemic to select populations; whether that spread will continue to be contained is an open question. Sexual risk practices remain high not only among traditional risk populations but also among youth. Even though the epidemic remains concentrated in Mexico, principally among MSM and IDU, only 13% of public HIV prevention funds are directed to key populations at especially high risk of becoming infected or infecting others. In recent years antiretroviral coverage has increased rapidly with funding increasing from 30 to 367 million pesos from 2001 to 2003 and coverage now approaching 100%. Of all health spending on HIV/AIDS in the public sector, 82.4% is spent by the social security institutes and 17.6% by the Ministry of Health. The former provides medical care to about half of PLHA while the latter, in addition to caring for the other half, supports the large majority of prevention expenses. One of the challenges faced by the health system which has largely achieved universal antiretroviral coverage is how to provide quality care with appropriate monitoring, promotion of adherence and recognition and treatment of resistance and adverse effects--without dramatically increasing costs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2006

Clinical trial-based cost-effectiveness analyses of antipsychotic use.

OBJECTIVE: Second-generation antipsychotics make up one of the fastest growing segments of the rapidly growing pharmaceutical sector. Given limited health care resources, assessment of the value for the cost of second-generation antipsychotics relative to first-generation antipsychotics is critical for resource-allocation decisions. METHOD: With a MEDLINE search, the authors identified eight studies (based on six randomized clinical trials) that analyzed the cost-effectiveness of second-generation antipsychotics relative to first-generation antipsychotics in individuals with schizophrenia disorders. The authors reviewed appropriate methods of measurement, analysis, and design of cost-effectiveness studies in randomized clinical trials and evaluated the validity of economic results derived from the studies in light of appropriate methods. RESULTS: The eight randomized clinical trial-based cost-effectiveness studies of antipsychotic medications faced a variety of threats to validity related to 1) measurement of costs, 2) measurement of effectiveness, 3) analysis of costs, 4) measurement of sampling uncertainty, 5) analysis of incomplete cost data, 6) minimizing loss to follow-up, and 7) threats to external validity. CONCLUSIONS: Economic claims made by the authors of a number of trial-based economic evaluations have generally been favorable to second-generation antipsychotics. However, the methodological issues the authors of the current study identified suggest that there is no clear evidence that atypical antipsychotics generate cost savings or are cost-effective in general use among all schizophrenia patients. Psychiatrists, researchers, and administrators should consider the methodological issues highlighted in interpreting study results. These issues should be addressed in future trial designs.

Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMed2006

The PedsQL as a patient-reported outcome in children and adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common chronic mental health condition in children and adolescents. The application of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as a pediatric population health measure may facilitate risk assessment and resource allocation, the identification of health disparities, and the determination of health outcomes from interventions and policy decisions for children and adolescents with ADHD at the local community, state, and national health level. METHODS: An analysis from an existing statewide database to determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the 23-item PedsQL 4.0 (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) Generic Core Scales as a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure of pediatric population health for children and adolescents with ADHD. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales (Physical, Emotional, Social, School Functioning) were completed by families through a statewide mail survey to evaluate the HRQOL of new enrollees in the State of California State's Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Seventy-two children ages 5-16 self-reported their HRQOL. RESULTS: The PedsQL 4.0 evidenced minimal missing responses, achieved excellent reliability for the Total Scale Score (alpha = 0.92 child self-report, 0.92 parent proxy-report), and distinguished between healthy children and children with ADHD. Children with ADHD self-reported severely impaired psychosocial functioning, comparable to children with newly-diagnosed cancer and children with cerebral palsy. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that population health monitoring may identify children with ADHD at risk for adverse HRQOL. The implications of measuring pediatric HRQOL for evaluating the population health outcomes of children with ADHD internationally are discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2006

Assessing the construct validity of the Italian version of the EQ-5D: preliminary results from a cross-sectional study in North Italy.

BACKGROUND: Information on health related quality of life (HR-QOL) can be integrated with other classical health status indicators and be used to assist policy makers in resource allocation decisions. For this reason instruments such as the SF-12 and EQ-5D have been widely proposed as assessment tools to monitor changes in HR-QOL in general populations and very recently in general practice settings as well AIM: The primary goal of our study was to assess the construct validity of the Italian version of the EQ-5D in a general population of North Italy using socio-demographic factors and diagnostic sub-groups. Our secondary goal was to assess the concurrent validity of the EQ-5D and SF-12. METHODS: The SF-12, the EQ-5D plus an additional questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical conditions and symptoms were completed by 1,622 adults, randomly selected from the Registry of the Health Authorities of the city of Bologna, Italy. The primary care physician of each subject was contacted to report on the subject's health status. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that the Italian version of the EQ-5D is well accepted by the general population (91% response rate), has good reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.73), and shows evidence of construct validity. CONCLUSION: Our data provide a basis for further research to be conducted to assess the validity of the EQ-5D in Italy. In particular future studies should focus on assessing its ability to detect a clinically important change in health related quality of life over time (responsiveness).

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Pulmonary practice profiles: Results of a practice performance survey.

OBJECTIVES: Physician productivity, practice expense, resource allocation, facilities, staff, and malpractice are variables in medical practice profitability. The ongoing challenge of collecting reliable and consistent data created an opportunity in 2001 for the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Practice Administration Network (PAN) to develop a practice-based survey that measured the variables most related to the bottom line. METHODS: The PAN designed a comprehensive practice survey in 2001 that has been distributed to > 2,000 ACCP members each year. The specialty-specific survey differed from those offered in the market, as its aim was to capture information about pulmonary, critical care, and sleep practices. The single-answer survey included practice expense categories and those related to accounts receivable management. An on-line survey vendor (www.surveymonkey.com) was selected as the platform based on broad functionality and a flexible architecture. RESULTS: The survey was conducted each June for 5 consecutive years. In 2001, survey respondents represented 68 pulmonary physicians. By 2005, 229 practices responded representing 774 individual physicians. Participants included members of ACCP Leadership, ACCP Committees, and related networks, and past survey participants. The data are presented in graphic format as a percentage of total respondents. CONCLUSION: The survey offered participants a mechanism to contrast and compare specialty-based trends in practice expense, staffing levels, clinical services, malpractice cost, facilities utilization, and financial management strategies of "better performing" practices. It has served as the groundwork for related Practice Management Committee and Practice Management Department initiatives. The ACCP anticipates future survey collaboration with the Medical Group Management Association.

Benchmarking↗
PubMed2003

Cancer prevalence in the UK: results from the EUROPREVAL study.

BACKGROUND: Cancer incidence, mortality and survival statistics for the UK are routinely available; however, data on prevalence, which is generally regarded as an important measure for health planning and resource allocation, are relatively scarce. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight cancer registries in the UK, covering more than half the population, provided data based on >1.5 million cases of cancer. Total prevalence was calculated using methods developed for the EUROPREVAL study, based on modelling incidence and survival trends. The prevalence of cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, lung, breast (in females), cervix uteri, corpus uteri and prostate, melanoma of skin, Hodgkin's disease, leukaemia and all malignant neoplasms combined, was estimated for the UK for the end of 1992. RESULTS: Overall, approximately 1.5% of males and 2.5% of females in the UK population at the end of 1992 were living with a diagnosis of cancer. These proportions increased steeply with age, with approximately 7.5% (7.3% and 7.8%, in males and females, respectively) of people aged > or =65 years living with a diagnosis of cancer. Of the individual cancers, by far the highest prevalence (almost 1%) was seen for breast cancer in females; more than one in three of all living female cancer patients had been diagnosed with breast cancer. For males, around half of prevalent cases had been diagnosed >5 years previously and 30% >10 years previously; for females, these figures were both higher, at approximately 60% and 40%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The estimates of prevalence presented here comprise: recently diagnosed patients in need of treatment and monitoring; long-term survivors, some of whom will nevertheless eventually die from the cancer, while others may be cured of the disease; and patients in the terminal phase who are dying from the cancer. Further work should attempt to identify the proportions of patients in the different phases of care in order to optimise the use of prevalence estimates in health care planning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

What do hospital decision-makers in Ontario, Canada, have to say about the fairness of priority setting in their institutions?

BACKGROUND: Priority setting, also known as rationing or resource allocation, occurs at all levels of every health care system. Daniels and Sabin have proposed a framework for priority setting in health care institutions called 'accountability for reasonableness', which links priority setting to theories of democratic deliberation. Fairness is a key goal of priority setting. According to 'accountability for reasonableness', health care institutions engaged in priority setting have a claim to fairness if they satisfy four conditions of relevance, publicity, appeals/revision, and enforcement. This is the first study which has surveyed the views of hospital decision makers throughout an entire health system about the fairness of priority setting in their institutions. The purpose of this study is to elicit hospital decision-makers' self-report of the fairness of priority setting in their hospitals using an explicit conceptual framework, 'accountability for reasonableness'. METHODS: 160 Ontario hospital Chief Executive Officers, or their designates, were asked to complete a survey questionnaire concerning priority setting in their publicly funded institutions. Eight-six Ontario hospitals completed this survey, for a response rate of 54%. Six close-ended rating scale questions (e.g. Overall, how fair is priority setting at your hospital?), and 3 open-ended questions (e.g. What do you see as the goal(s) of priority setting in your hospital?) were used. RESULTS: Overall, 60.7% of respondents indicated their hospitals' priority setting was fair. With respect to the 'accountability for reasonableness' conditions, respondents indicated their hospitals performed best for the relevance (75.0%) condition, followed by appeals/revision (56.6%), publicity (56.0%), and enforcement (39.5%). CONCLUSIONS: For the first time hospital Chief Executive Officers within an entire health system were surveyed about the fairness of priority setting practices in their institutions using the conceptual framework 'accountability for reasonableness'. Although many hospital CEOs felt that their priority setting was fair, ample room for improvement was noted, especially for the enforcement condition.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2002

Nutrition influence on copper accumulation by Brassica pekinensis Rupr.

Effect of nutrition status in the growth medium on Cu accumulation and plant growth were tested in Brassica pekinensis grown in hydroponic culture in a cultural facility. Cu concentration in the roots and shoots increased with increasing external Cu in the culture solution. On the other hand, it decreased with increasing Hoagland's solution (HS) strength. Interaction between external Cu and HS strength was also observed to affect Cu concentration in the tissues. A low level of external Cu could lead to a high Cu concentration in the plant at low HS strength, while to obtain a high Cu concentration in the plant at high HS strength, a high level of external Cu was needed. Partial nutrient experiments showed an important role of Fe and P in governing Cu accumulation. The influence of nutrients on Cu accumulation were mainly attributed to the osmolarity of the nutrient solution, antagonism between nutrients and Cu, pH change, and cation transporter induction. Root length and shoot biomass were negatively related to Cu concentration in the plant, suggesting an adverse effect of Cu in the tissue on plant growth. Root biomass showed less response to Cu concentration in the plant. This was presumably due to plant resource allocation between shoot and root, by which more resources were shifted to the Cu-stressed roots. The results might have important implications in understanding the sterility of the growth media of plants on Cu fate and effect in the ecosystem.

Biomass↗
PubMed2005

Correlates of family contact with the mental health system: allocation of a scarce resource.

This study explored correlates of informal and formal contact between clinicians and families of individuals with schizophrenia. We reanalyzed data from 902 individuals with schizophrenia from the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) client survey and a Veterans Affairs extension. Only 31% of families had any informal contact with a clinician and 7.8% attended a formal support program. Logistic regression showed that younger age, greater education, drug problems, receiving psychiatric inpatient and day treatment services, and participants' satisfaction with their family were all positively and significantly associated with informal contact. Receipt of formal family services was associated with intensity of social contact between participants and families. These results suggest that formal services for families of individuals with schizophrenia are not commonly available, and that informal pathways are the most common, although still limited, mechanism through which families of those patients who are receiving intensive services communicate with clinicians.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Pharmacoeconomics of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors in heart failure.

As a result of the increasing cost of health care and the limited resources available, it has become more difficult to allocate resources efficiently and effectively in the health care system. This environment has led to the development of pharmacoeconomic studies, which have been designed in response to the need for assessment of the economic benefits of a product prior to its acceptance in the market. The field of pharmacoeconomics has grown rapidly, especially in relation to the development of new pharmacological products. Economic analysis is now routinely incorporated into many clinical trials, and this type of information, in conjunction with the usual safety and efficacy data, is becoming more important to pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities, third party payers, and end-users. The cost-effectiveness of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for the treatment of heart failure has been evaluated on the basis of a number of large-scale studies, including the Survival and Ventricular Enlargement (SAVE) study and the Veterans Administration Cooperative Vasodilator Heart Failure Trials (V-HeFT I and II). The cost-effectiveness of the ACE inhibitor captopril compares favorably with other cardiac interventions, reducing both mortality and the incidence of congestive heart failure (CHF). Captopril also appears to be cost-effective in the treatment of patients with left ventricular dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction. In addition, analysis of more recent studies of the treatment of fosinopril in patients with mild to moderate CHF have been performed and have proved this newer ACE inhibitor to be cost-saving in these patients.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors↗