Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Universal Health Insurance”

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 1,513 records · Page 84Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Comparing the validity of different sources of information on emergency department visits: a latent class analysis.

BACKGROUND: Emergency department (ED) use in Quebec may be measured from varied sources, eg, patient's self-reports, hospital medical charts, and provincial health insurance claims databases. Determining the relative validity of each source is complicated because none is a gold standard. OBJECTIVE: We sought to compare the validity of different measures of ED use without arbitrarily assuming one is perfect. SUBJECTS: Data were obtained from a nursing liaison intervention study for frail seniors visiting EDs at 4 university-affiliated hospitals in Montreal. MEASURES: The number of ED visits during 2 consecutive follow-up periods of 1 and 4 months after baseline was obtained from patient interviews, from medical charts of participating hospitals, and from the provincial health insurance claims database. METHODS: Latent class analysis was used to estimate the validity of each source. The impact of the following covariates on validity was evaluated: hospital visited, patient's demographic/clinical characteristics, risk of functional decline, nursing liaison intervention, duration of recall, previous ED use, and previous hospitalization. RESULTS: The patient's self-report was found to be the least accurate (sensitivity: 70%, specificity: 88%). Claims databases had the greatest validity, especially after defining claims made on consecutive days as part of the same ED visit (sensitivity: 98%, specificity: 98%). The validity of the medical chart was intermediate. Lower sensitivity (or under-reporting) on the self-report appeared to be associated with higher age, low comorbidity and shorter length of recall. CONCLUSION: The claims database is the most valid method of measuring ED use among seniors in Quebec compared with hospital medical charts and patient-reported use.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

The rise and fall of democratic universalism: health care reform in Italy, 1978-1994.

In 1978, a sweeping reform created the first national health service of continental Europe: Italy's Servizio Sanitario Nazionale. This new scheme was based on the principle of "full democratic universalism": The state would provide free and equal benefits to every citizen and the organization of public health would subject to popular control, essentially through political parties. However, the severe problems encountered in implementing the reform design and rapidly increasing health expenditures soon eroded any consensus on this principle. Thus the 1980s and early 1990s witnessed a gradual shift to "conditional and well managed universalism." These latter principles stress the need to differentiate access to care according to some criterion to regulate demand and the need for efficient use of scarce resources through adequate valorization of managerial skills and the use of "market-type" incentives. An elaborated system of user copayments was introduced gradually, and in 1992 a "reform of the reform" profoundly changed the organizational framework of the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale. The new government elected in the spring of 1994 announced ambitious plans to partially dismantle public universal insurance. Although these plans may prove difficult, the potential to form an anti-universalistic coalition seems strong in the contemporary Italian health care arena.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1990

Maternity care financing: universal access or universal care?

In an era of fiscal constraint, growing poverty, increased uninsuredness, medical liability problems, and increasing costs of maternity care, public and private financing mechanisms are changing rapidly and the service delivery system is increasingly fragmented. Despite the almost mercurial changes in the system, data from national studies show that access to care is a major problem affecting all childbearing women. This paper describes the three groups of women who require comprehensive maternity care, their insurance coverage, and the gaps for each group. It describes proposals which are currently under development to reduce uninsuredness and produce universal access and, in addition, presents an alternative plan for universal maternity care.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1990

Understanding the flow of health policy in the United States: self-interest or ignorance?

Health policy decisions are made in an uneven manner, eluding attempts to explain developments with a coherent theory. Numerous explanations have been suggested to explain individual policy actions, but recently Feldstein has attempted a broader formulation. This Self-Interest Model of Health Policy, however, assumes full knowledge of a policy's benefits and costs. This is an unrealistic assumption, and the model is unable to explain important decisions that have been made in three areas: insurance for long-term care, universal access, and efficiency incentives. This article presents a broader, more powerful formulation of the Feldstein model, specifically incorporating public ignorance as a policy determinant. The vital role of education and health policy research is underscored.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1991

Containing health costs in a consumer-based model.

The assumption that consumer choice cannot be used to achieve cost control in health care is invalid. It does not do so today because the tax treatment of health care leads to perverse consumer incentives that encourage cost escalation. By reforming the tax treatment of insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs, it is possible to design an efficient and universal system in which consumer choice is a powerful restraint on cost.

Community Participation↗
PubMed1999

Health sector reform in the Republic of Macedonia.

AIM: To evaluate the results of current reforms in Macedonian health sector. METHOD: Description and situation analysis, covering the period 1991-1997, are focused on demographic and vital indicators, morbidity and mortality data, elements of health care system, legislation, health insurance, health care financing, and elements of health care reforms. RESULTS: The Republic of Macedonia experienced changes in the social and economic situation, similar to those in other countries in transition. The growing number of dependents (young and old persons) impact high health expenditures. High priority health problems were infant and premature adult mortality. As an inheritance of the former political system, the development of different parts of health care services was unbalanced and insurance and local network of health facilities were highly decentralized. The reforms addressed health financing and reimbursement, organization and management of health services, and pharmaceutical policies and supply. The legislation was revised, but new revision is needed. CONCLUSIONS: Health care reforms were needed in Republic of Macedonia in order to overcome the problems associated with early phase of transition. The disadvantages of the current reforms are: lack of proper political will for the implementation of activities according to the planned schedule, initial over-utilization of hospital care, and no significant changes in financing of the public sector facilities. The advantages are that the health system did not disintegrate, universal access to health services was maintained, free choice of physician was promoted, and public/private mix of services was established and financed by the Health Insurance Fund.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1993

Universities and medical schools: reflections on a half-century of Canadian medical education.

After 50 years of accelerated development, universities and medical schools have entered a period of uncertainty and instability. The Flexnerian paradigm of medical education, rooted in biomedical science and conducted under the aegis of a university, reached its apotheosis by the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Fuelled by the introduction of comprehensive, government-sponsored health care insurance and advances in technology, the demand for health care professionals and for access to facilities increased sharply. Medical education, research and advanced clinical services expanded dramatically aided by the emergence of academic health sciences centres and accompanied by a wave of medical curriculum reform. Now medical schools must strike a dynamic balance in responding to the continued expansion of knowledge and technology, the demand for social equity and the exigencies of prolonged fiscal constraint. They must also balance the biological and sociological approaches to medicine in establishing the foundations for the future development of Canadian medical education.

Canada↗
PubMed1995

Health care reform in The Netherlands: balancing corporatism, etatism, and market mechanisms.

The transformation of the Dutch health care system and the impetus behind the market-oriented health care reforms implemented since 1989 are examined. During the postwar period, the gradual transformation of the Dutch health care system was interrupted twice by attempts to introduce radical reforms: the 1974 comprehensive health plan and the 1987 pro-competitive national health insurance program. The market-oriented reform involves a fundamental change of the incentive structure for insurers and providers. The objective is to interest both parties in containing costs and improving efficiency while preserving universal access through central redistributive financing. In the Dutch political context, radical reform proposals can be introduced only by a prolonged series of incremental changes, which offer the corporatist organizations of providers and insurers ample opportunity to dismantle the original reform design. The 1974 comprehensive health plan failed largely because of this corporatist trap. The 1987 market-oriented reform program faced the same risks, although it appeared to offer an ingenious political compromise. Private health insurers were particularly successful in slowing the reform by frustrating the development of a prospective, risk-adjusted payment mechanism. The resistance of corporatist organizations to the 1974 and 1987 reforms provoked a largely unplanned process of creeping etatization. Paradoxically, the present market-oriented reforms coincide with far-reaching state interventions in determining provider fees. A new, more satisfactory balance between corporatism, etatism, and market mechanisms must still be found.

Cost Control↗
PubMed2000

[Myocardial infarction hospitalization by the day of the week: retrospective study].

INTRODUCTION: There is in the literature some studies looking for cycles and a circadian rhythm associated with acute myocardial infarction. Several authors have pointed out a higher incidence of myocardial infarction on Mondays suggesting the existence of trigger mechanisms in the disease onset. The week day distribution of hospitalizations due to myocardial infarction and its associations with patient sex and category of hospitalization (social status) in the Ribeirão Preto area from 1987 to 1996, were studied. METHODS: A total of 173,982 hospitalizations due to heart and cerebral vascular diseases, including 5,804 cases of acute myocardial infarction, were evaluated using the medical records of the Hospital Data Center of the medical school of Ribeirão Preto, University of S. Paulo. The hospitalizations were classified as being on a private basis, through private insurance or the Unified Health System (SUS). The associations with sex, patient condition at discharge and category of the hospitalization were studied. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of hospitalizations due to heart and vascular diseases and acute myocardial infarction showed a peak incidence on Mondays, corresponding to 19.3% and 16.9% of the cases. During the weekend there was a decrease in the number of heart and vascular disease hospitalizations (8.6%) and a smaller reduction in the number of myocardial infarction cases (12.7%) which are statistically significant. In addition, there were observed differences in the distribution patterns according to the day of the week and category of hospitalization. While the SUS patients (4,120) and private insurance patients (1,225) are more likely to be hospitalized on Mondays, private patients (459) are more likely to be hospitalized on Fridays and Saturdays. There were no associations with patient sex and patient condition at discharge.

Brazil↗
PubMed1992

State legislators calling for more, less in pursuit of universal access to care.

In what may be partly the result of election-year politics, state legislators are following somewhat schizophrenic paths in pursuit of universal access to healthcare. While more states are expected to allow "bare bones" health coverage, thus lowering premiums and making insurance more affordable, lawmakers also continue adding to the mandated benefits many say boost costs and increase the uninsured.

Health Services Accessibility↗
PubMed1997

[Internal quality assurance--Munster experiences].

Medical data monitoring is an effective tool to insure high quality and efficient performance of health care providers. In the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Muenster this is based on a comprehensive data management system. This system has been custom tailored to enable optimal monitoring of quality, performance and cost aspects based on access to all available data. Data acquisition is achieved online and allows for continuous data analysis. This data monitoring is the basis for objective quality control of medical performance as well as for the evaluation of the impact of politically induced economic restrictions on the quality of care.

Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed2000

Relation between private health insurance and high rates of caesarean section in Chile: qualitative and quantitative study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the circumstances and factors that explain the association between private health insurance cover and a high rate of caesarean sections in Chile. DESIGN: Qualitative analysis of audiotaped in-depth interviews with obstetricians and pregnant women; quantitative analysis of data from face to face semistructured interview survey conducted postnatally (with women who had given birth in the previous 24-72 hours), and of a review of medical notes at a public hospital, a university hospital, and a private clinic. SETTING: Santiago, Chile. PARTICIPANTS: Qualitative arm: 22 obstetricians, 21 pregnant women; quantitative arm: 540 postnatal women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of caesarean section in different types of institutions; consultants' views on private practice; work patterns in private practice; women's reasons for choosing private care; women's preferences on method of delivery. RESULTS: Private health insurance cover requires the primary maternity care provider to be an obstetrician. In the postnatal survey, women with private obstetricians showed consistently higher rates of caesarean section (range 57-83%) than those cared for by midwives or doctors on duty in public or university hospitals (range 27-28%). Only a minority of women receiving private care reported that they had wanted this method of delivery (range 6-32%). With the diversification in the healthcare market, most obstetricians now have demanding peripatetic work schedules. Private maternity patients are a lucrative source of income. The obstetrician is committed to attend these private births in person, and the "programming" (or scheduling) of births is a common time management strategy. The rate of elective caesarean sections was 30-68% in women with private obstetricians and 12-14% in women not attended by private obstetricians. CONCLUSIONS: Policies on healthcare financing can influence maternity care management and outcomes in unforeseen ways. The prevailing business ethos in health care encourages such pragmatism among those doctors who do not have a moral objection to non-medical caesarean section.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1999

The cost of infertility evaluation and therapy: findings of a self-insured university healthcare plan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the total costs of infertility coverage, determine the proportion of healthcare costs related to infertility, compare infertility costs to those of other diseases, and calculate a per member per month cost of an infertility benefit. DESIGN: Historical prospective analysis. SETTING: A university-based, self-insured, fee-for-service healthcare plan. PATIENT(S): Healthcare policy members from January 1993 through December 1995. INTERVENTION(S): General and infertility-specific healthcare that included diagnostic tests for infertility, induction of ovulation, artificial insemination, donor gametes, in vitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian transfer, zygote intrafallopian transfer, microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration, embryo cryopreservation, and frozen embryo transfer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Healthcare costs, as calculated from the International Classification of Diseases, Volume 9 codes. RESULT(S): Total healthcare and infertility-specific costs of the university healthcare plan over a 3-year period were $86,445,642 and $680,921, respectively. Therefore, infertility accounted for 0.79% of the total university healthcare costs. The mean total and infertility-specific per member per month healthcare costs were $86.15 and $0.67, respectively. CONCLUSION(S): These data reveal that infertility costs account for only a small fraction of the total healthcare costs and can be attained at a nominal monthly fee.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Peer interviewing: a student health survey on an urban campus.

To gain information about university students' health concerns and awareness of campus health center services, the author used peer interviewing as a method particularly suited to an urban campus. Sixty volunteers fanned out across campus to interview fellow students in the midst of their normal activities in an effort to reach a broad cross-section of the campus population. The volunteers conducted almost 600 interviews with peers at a sample of campus locations. In addition to reporting the findings from the study, the author describes peer interviewing and factors associated with recruiting volunteers. Periodic peer interviews conducted at multiple locations on campus are proposed as a reasonable way to obtain ongoing health assessment data on an urban campus.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Overview, analysis and evaluation of the 1995 public health structural law and the federal social care law from the viewpoint of the trauma surgery department of a university clinic. Measures for preparation of a new reimbursement system and documentation requirements].

All doctors in Germany are required to cooperate in the implementation of the health system reform and the new system for reimbursement of the hospitals to limit the negative consequences to the patients. It would be absolutely wrong to leave the medical services of the insurance companies to define the diagnosis-related groups and determine the charges. The revision of the health system is beneficial in that it supports the economical independence of hospital departments. It is a good idea for them to be paid by results; however, there are no established methods of measuring results or efficacy in medicine. Germany is about 10 years behind the USA in this, so that our country is not yet ready for this reform. Hospital departments do have the freedom to make economic decisions, being heavily dependent on the insurances and the government, because most people who work in hospital are paid from these sources. Departments of trauma or orthopaedic surgery are disadvantaged by the reform, because of the number and kind of diagnosis related groups and the method of reimbursement. This leads to a profit-oriented system of medical documentation, with possible upcoding of diagnoses in future. The present health reform most probably will not increase the efficiency of hospitals; it will not be possible to attain cost reductions with the same level of medical care. The reduced reimbursement will force doctors to cut down their expenses and restrict diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. On the other hand the administration sector in hospitals and insurances will expand dramatically in future.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cost Control↗
PubMed2001

Direct costs-of-illness of patients with diabetes mellitus in Taiwan.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the characteristics of healthcare costs for diabetic patients in Taiwan. The study analyzed claim data from the Bureau of National Health Insurance for the period from July 1997 to June 1998. There were 536159 documented diabetic patients who were treated within the universal healthcare system in Taiwan during this study period. The annual number of visits of these diabetic patients was 6.2% of the total outpatient visits of all patients due to all causes during the one-year study period. Diabetes-related problems were the causes of 25.2% of outpatient visits among diabetic patients, while 74.8% of visits were for causes unrelated to diabetes. The distribution of treatment for the diabetic patients was by oral hypoglycemic agents 88.3%, insulin only 6.9%, and a combination of insulin and oral agents 4.8%. Diabetic patients accounted for 4,724,711 hospital inpatient days during the study period, which was 22.1% of the total inpatient days in Taiwan. Of the inpatient admissions, 13.9% were for diabetes as the principal cause, 23.4% were for diabetes-related disease, and 62.7% were for causes unrelated to diabetes. The direct costs of healthcare for the documented diabetic patients was 11.5% of the total costs of healthcare in Taiwan, and was 4.3 times higher than the average costs of care for non-diabetic individuals.

Ambulatory Care↗