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[Hospital financing and information on hospital clients].

The health care system can be characterized, among other facts, by the multiplicity of involved actors (institutions and individuals) acting for final goals in competition, or even in opposition. The principal goal of the economic organization of the health care system consists in applying a regulation to grant the coordination of the great number of decisions taken by decentralized actors in order to introduce them in economic way into a common final goal. The market forces appear unable to realize the necessary regulation in the health care system and centralized planning can lead to lack of effectiveness. For this reason, it's necessary to make use of a decentralized economic regulation; in this view health care financing systems are essential and could positively influence the behaviour of the actors as well as the costs. Information on hospital Casemix represents an important contribution to better transparency of the working of the health care system and to facilitate competition.

Delivery of Health Care↗

Performance contracting: the Colorado model.

Through a process of negotiation between a community mental health centers association (CMHCA) and the state division of mental health (DMH), a performance contracting system has created entrepreneurial freedom for the mental health centers while still providing adequate controls by the DMH.

Colorado↗

Effects of competition on Medicare administrative costs.

This paper examines the effects of introducing competitive contracting into the Medicare: Part B program. The administrative costs of contractors (carriers) who process Medicare claims for medical services are examined to determine relative efficiencies of firms operating under either competitive or non-competitive contracts. Pooled time-series cross-sectional data are used to estimate an average total cost function. Findings are that (1) appreciable cost reductions were obtained by the introduction of competition, (2) economies of scale are present in Medicare claims processing, and (3) carriers who are non-profit organizations (i.e. Blue Shield plans) do not exhibit higher costs than comparable commercial insurance companies.

Contract Services↗

Hospital rate review. A theory and an empirical review.

This paper presents a theory of the effects of rate review on hospital operations and organization. Its purpose is to explain the way in which hospitals have responded to regulation. In the development of this theory, the hospital product was viewed as a bundle of services, rate review was looked upon as a ceiling on the value of the bundle. The ceiling creates an incentive to remove elements from the bundle, i.e., to reduce 'quality'. When quality is variable, the effect on utilization becomes indeterminate. The model argues, among other things, that the hospital will change its service complement and its contractural arrangements with physicians and other hospitals. An extension of the organizational theory literature leads to implications concerning the ordering of hospital responses to regulation. The growing body of empirical literature on the effects of hospital rate review is used as an initial test of the major thrusts of the theory. A suggested agenda for further empirical work also is presented.

Cost Control↗

A comparison of existing and alternative competitive bidding systems for indigent medical care.

Competitive bidding is gaining in popularity as a means of containing costs in indigent medical care programs. The economic implications of the bidding systems employed by Arizona and California are discussed in light of the existing literature. Two alternative bidding approaches are proposed for consideration by policymakers--the sealed bid 'Vickrey' auction and the 'ascending Dutch' auction. While the incentives it contains for providers are not optimal, the ascending Dutch auction has the greatest potential for effective implementation since it accommodates the realities of public sector budget constraints and political pressures for direct control over program expenditures.

Arizona↗

Cognitive conflict without explicit conflict monitoring in a dynamical agent.

We examine mechanisms for resolving cognitive conflict in an embodied, situated, and dynamic agent, developed through an evolutionary learning process. The agent was required to solve problems of response conflict in a dual-target "catching" task, focusing response on one of the targets while ignoring the other. Conflict in the agent was revealed at the behavioral level in terms of increased latencies to the second target. This behavioral interference was correlated to peak violations of the network's stable state equation. At the level of the agent's neural network, peak violations were also correlated to periods of disagreement in source inputs to the agent's motor effectors. Despite observing conflict at these numerous levels, we did not find any explicit conflict monitoring mechanisms within the agent. We instead found evidence of a distributed conflict management system, characterized by competitive sources within the network. In contrast to the conflict monitoring hypothesis [Botvinick, M. M., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Carter, C. S., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108(3), 624-652], this agent demonstrates that resolution of cognitive conflict does not require explicit conflict monitoring. We consider the implications of our results for the conflict monitoring hypothesis.

Attention↗

Hospital competition in HMO networks.

We develop a framework for analyzing bargaining relationships between hospitals and HMOs under selective contracting. Using a unique dataset on hospitals in the Los Angeles area from 1990 to 1993, we estimate the determinants of actual negotiated prices paid to hospitals by two major HMOs. We find that a hospital's bargaining power, and thus its price, decrease when the HMO can readily turn to alternative networks that exclude the hospital. We simulate the effect of hypothetical hospital mergers on bargaining power and find that some hospital mergers, even in urban areas with many nearby hospitals, can lead to significant price increases.

Capitation Fee↗

Health technology assessment in the United Kingdom.

The National Health Service (NHS) provides universal health coverage for all British citizens. Most services are free of charge, although modest copayments are sometimes applied. About 11% of the population also has private insurance. General practitioners, generally the first point of contact for accessing the system, are independent contractors who serve as gatekeepers for specialist and hospital services and enjoy substantial clinical autonomy. Hospitals are public and are regionalized, but the 1990 reforms made them self-governing trusts that contract with local purchasers (health authorities and general practitioner fundholders). Reforms beginning in 1990 moved the NHS away from a centralized administrative structure to more pluralistic arrangements in which competition, as well as management, influences how services develop. Health technology and health technology assessment (HTA) have gained increasing attention in the NHS during this period, as part of a wider NHS Research and Development (R&D) Strategy. The strategy promotes a knowledge-based health service with a strong research infrastructure and the capacity to critically review its own needs. HTA is the largest and most developed of the programs within the strategy. It has a formal system for setting assessment priorities involving widespread consultation within the NHS, and a National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment. The strategy supports related centers such as the U.K. Cochrane Centre and the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. A hallmark of the HTA program is strong public participation. The United Kingdom has made a major commitment to HTA and to seeking effective means of reviewing and disseminating evidence.

Delivery of Health Care↗

Review of the utilisation of a university hospital in Barcelona (Spain): evolution 1992-1996.

BACKGROUND: To test the applicability of the appropriateness evaluation protocol (AEP) as a tool for reviewing hospital utilisation. To quantify and to compare the rate of inappropriate admissions and amount of in-hospital days, emphasising the main causes and factors in the hospital associated with inappropriateness during the studied periods of time. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two retrospective studies were carried out, the first one in 1992, when 2048 clinical histories were analysed, and the second in 1996, with 1099 reviewed histories. The tool used for the evaluation of the level of hospital utilisation is the AEP. RESULTS: The proportion of admissions considered to be inappropriate was 25% (95% CI: 20.8-24.5) in 1992, and 16% (95% CI: 13.8-18.2) in 1996. Premature admission was the most frequent cause of inappropriateness in both periods. The logistic regression model built for the dependent variable admission showed the following variables to be associated to inappropriateness: scheduled admission (OR: 15; 95% CI: 10.8-20.7) and (OR: 10; 95% CI: 6-16.5), weekend admission (OR: 2; 95% CI: 1.3-1.2) and (OR: 2; 95% CI: 1.2-2.3), for 1992 and 1996, respectively. The rate of inappropriate in-hospital stays in 1992 was 29% (95% CI: 28.3-29.6), and 13.5% (95% CI: 12.7-14.3) in 1996. Hospital organisational problems were the main cause of inappropriate in-hospital days in 1992, and diagnostic/ therapeutical tests that could be performed ambulatorily ranked first in 1996. The logistic regression model built for the dependent variable in-hospital days had the following independent variables associated to its inappropriateness: discharge on weekdays (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.2-1.8) and (OR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.5-0.8) and length of stay (OR: 2; 95% CI: 1.8-2.4) and (OR: 2.4; 95% CI: 2.3-2.5), for 1992 and 1996 respectively, among other variables. CONCLUSION: Periodic checking of the utilisation levels with the application of methods such as the AEP will contribute towards adapting hospital management in the more competitive current setting.

Female↗

Changing partners.

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Biotechnology↗

Hospital cost shifting.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Plans↗