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The physician workforce in Kuwait to the year 2020Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of the study was to project the future demand for physicians in Kuwait for the years 2007-2020 based on the period 1994-2006. Population projections were derived using the average annual natural increase rate of the 1994-2006 populations. The future demand for physicians was predicted using the average physician to population ratio for the years 1994-2006. The average annual growth rate of indigenous physicians during the period 1994-2006 was 4.08% compared to 2.83% for non-native expatriot physicians. There is a gap between the numbers of native and foreign physicians. In 2006, native physicians constituted ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 24, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Khaled Al-Jarallah, Mohamed Moussa, Khadija Figen Al-Khanfar Source Type: journals

Policy process for health sector reforms: a case study of Punjab Province (Pakistan)Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The health sector in the Punjab (Pakistan) faces many problems, and the government introduced reforms during 1993-2000 to overcome these problems. This paper explores the policy process for the reforms. A case study method was used and, to assist this, a conceptual framework was developed. Analysis of four initiatives indicated that there were deviations from the government guidelines and that the policy processes used were weak. The progress of different reforms was affected by a variety of factors: the immaturity of the political process and civil society, which together with innate conservatism and resistance to change ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 24, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Ehsanullah Tarin, Andrew Green, Mayeh Omar, Jane Shaw Source Type: journals

Assessing trade in health services in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean from a public health perspectiveEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective was to estimate the direction, volume, and value of TiHS; analyze country commitments; and assess the challenges and opportunities for health services.Trade liberalization favored an open trade regime and encouraged foreign direct investment. Consumption abroad and movement of natural persons were the two prevalent modes. Yemen and Sudan are net importers, while Jordan promotes health tourism. In 2002, Yemenis spent US$ 80 million out of pocket for treatment abroad, while Jordan generated US$ 620 million. Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and Tunisia export health workers, while Oman relies on import and 40% of its work...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 12, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Sameen Siddiqi, Azza Shennawy, Zafer Mirza, Nick Drager, Belgacem Sabri Source Type: journals

Balancing the funds in the New Cooperative Medical Scheme in rural China: determinants and influencing factors in two provincesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In recent years, the central government in China has been leading the re-establishment of its rural health insurance system, but local government institutions have considerable flexibility in the specific design and management of schemes. Maintaining a reasonable balance of funds is critical to ensure that the schemes are sustainable and effective in offering financial protection to members. This paper explores the financial management of the NCMS in China through a case study of the balance of funds and the factors influencing this, in six counties in two Chinese provinces. The main data source is NCMS management data fro...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - July 6, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Luying Zhang, Xiaoming Cheng, Xiaoyun Liu, Kun Zhu, Shenglan Tang, Lennart Bogg, Karin Dobberschuetz, Rachel Tolhurst Source Type: journals

Neonatal health program management in a resource-constrained setting in rural Uttar Pradesh, IndiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This analysis identifies salient features of team management that were critical to the efficiency of program implementation and the effectiveness of behavior change management to promote essential newborn care practices in Uttar Pradesh, India. In May 2003, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and King George Medical University initiated a cluster-randomized, controlled neonatal health research program. In less than 2 years, the trial demonstrated rapid adoption of several evidence-based newborn care practices and a substantial reduction in neonatal mortality in intervention clusters. Existing literature inv...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - May 31, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Abigail Thomas, Vishwajeet Kumar, Mahendra Bhandari, Ramesh C. Ahuja, Pramod Singh, Abdullah H. Baqui, Shally Awasthi, J. V. Singh, Mathuram Santosham, Gary L. Darmstadt, and for the Saksham Study Group Source Type: journals

Remodeling pharmaceutical care in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) amidst human resources challenges and the HIV/AIDS pandemicEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Pharmaceutical care, meant to complement a proper drug supply system, is a key component of a robust health care system and is the direct, responsible provision of medication-related care designed to achieve definite outcomes that improve a patient's quality of life. Beyond simply dispensing medicine, pharmaceutical care promotes adherence to therapeutic regimens and addresses problems such as overdosage, sub-therapeutic dosage, adverse drug reactions, medication errors, and untreated indications. The dearth of health care workers trained in pharmaceutical care coupled with inadequate access to medications creates multiple...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 24, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Rosalyn C. King, Henry N. Fomundam Source Type: journals

'By papers and pens, you can only do so much': views about accountability and human resource management from Indian government health administrators and workersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Although accountability drives in the Indian health sector sporadically highlight egregious behaviour of individual health providers, accountability needs to be understood more broadly. From a managerial perspective, while accountability functions as a control mechanism that involves reviews and sanctions, it also has a constructive side that encourages learning from errors and discretion to support innovation. This points to social relationships: how formal rules and hierarchies combine with informal norms and processes and more fundamentally how power relations are negotiated. Drawing from this conceptual background and ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 21, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Asha George Source Type: journals

Access to elective surgery in New Zealand: considering equity and the private and public mixEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study evaluated equity of provision of surgery after the introduction of a prioritization system to manage access. Data for people receiving publicly funded elective joint replacement, prostatectomy or cataract surgery between 2000 and 2005 were obtained, as well as most recent data for people receiving privately funded surgery (2001 and 2002). Denominators were derived from the 2001 census for the population of District Health Board regions. NZDep2001, a small-area deprivation index, was used to identify people in poorest deciles. Despite the introduction of a prioritization system aimed at increased equity and fairn...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - March 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Sarah Derrett, Tui H. Bevin, Peter Herbison, Charlotte Paul Source Type: journals

Trust-based or performance-based management - a study of employment contracting in hospitalsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study shows that perceived obligations and psychological contracts indicate high degree of relational contracts between the hospital and the physicians. These socio-cultural elements should be recognized as important mechanisms of coordination and communication when policy makers and hospital managers are designing hospital management control systems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management)
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - March 25, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Inger Johanne Pettersen Source Type: journals

Performance measurement in mental health care: present situation and future possibilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper describes performance measurement and its indicators for mental health care services. Performance measurement can serve several goals such as accountability, quality improvement and performance management. For all three purposes structure, process and outcome indicators should be measured. Literature was retrieved from Medline and PsychInfo in order to see which performance indicators were used for the three purposes of performance measurement in mental health care. The indicators were classified in structure, process and outcome indicators. The results show no big differences in the indicators used among studie...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - February 13, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Irma J. Baars, Silvia M. A. A. Evers, Arnoud Arntz, Godefridus G. van Merode Source Type: journals

Global health partnerships in practice: taking stock of the GAVI Alliance's new investment in health systems strengtheningEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Despite a burgeoning literature on global health partnerships (GHPs), there have been few studies of how GHPs, particularly those trying to build a bridge between horizontal and vertical modes of delivering essential health services, operate at global and country levels. This paper will help address this knowledge gap by describing and analyzing the GAVI Alliance's early experience with health systems strengthening (HSS) to improve immunization coverage and other maternal-child health outcomes. To date, the strengths of HSS reside in its potential to optimize GAVI's overall investment in immunization, efforts to harmonize ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - January 24, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Joseph F. Naimoli Source Type: journals

Costing of clinical services in rural district hospitals in northern VietnamEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aimed to estimate and analyse the "actual" unit cost of providing key clinical services in selected rural district hospitals in the North of Vietnam. It also examined the relationship between actual costs and the levels of cost covered by the corresponding user fees paid by patients.Methods: This was a facility-based costing study which estimates the costs of health care services from the perspective of the service providers. Three rural district hospitals from three provinces in the North of Vietnam were purposively selected for this study. The "step-down" approach was applied.Results: There was little differen...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - January 22, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Hoang Van Minh, Kim Bao Giang, Dao Lan Huong, Le Thi Huong, Nguyen Thuy Huong, Pham Ngan Giang, Luu Ngoc Hoat, Pamela Wright Source Type: journals

Why we are wasting time in the operating theatre?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions Considerable operating theatre time is wasted while patients are transferred to and from the operating theatre resulting in both anaesthetists and surgeons having to wait between patients in a high proportion of cases, averaging 1 h during a 4 h operating list. Surgery could be made more time efficient by ensuring that patients arrive in the operating theatre complex early enough (to reduce time wasted for anaesthetists and surgeons), and by having two anaesthetists available at the end of surgery, one to reverse the anaesthetic while the other starts the next induction (to reduce time waste for the surgeon), c...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - November 15, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Prithwiraj Saha, Anita Pinjani, Nawar Al-Shabibi, Sheethal Madari, John Ruston, Adam Magos Source Type: journals

The impact of scaling-up prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV infection on the human resource requirement: the need to go beyond numbersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study concludes that services for PMTCT of HIV infection can easily be scaled-up and integrated into RCH services using the already existing staff. In the wake of the human resource crisis in the health sector in developing countries, strategies to address the problem will need to go beyond numbers to address issues of staff productivity and their distribution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management)
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 6, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Daudi Simba, Jerome Kamwela, Rose Mpembeni, Gernard Msamanga Source Type: journals

Clinical leadership: the elephant in the roomEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The article explores the concept of clinical leadership in the National Health Service in the UK by seeking to establish a workable definition and by contrasting it with managerial leadership, focussing on the 'disconnected hierarchy' in professional organizations. It proposes that the problems faced by clinical leadership relate to the current nature of general management in the NHS and concludes by suggesting that clinical leadership is the 'elephant in the room' - often ignored or unaddressed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management)
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 4, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: John Edmonstone Source Type: journals

An approach to health system strengthening in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea)Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), undertook the development of a Health System Strengthening (HSS) proposal through the support of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The aim of this paper is to outline the approach to the development of the HSS strategy in DPRK, and describe opportunities and challenges associated with its development and future implementation. Sources of information for this review have included national programme plans, in country social sector reviews, information generated through HSS proposal developmen...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: John Grundy, Rob Moodie Source Type: journals

Promotion and prevention within a decentralized framework: changing health care in Brazil and ChileEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The study aims to define configurations of factors from local, regional and national levels that, within a context of decentralized health systems, enable or hinder change towards a health care model of promotion and disease prevention as advocated in current Latin American public health discourse. The project developed in-depth case studies of prevention and promotion activities in eight local health systems in rural and urban Brazil and Chile allowing three levels of comparison: national, regional and local. The data are based on interviews, secondary sources, policy documentation and observations. The results are summar...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - July 11, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Sarah Atkinson, Amélia Cohn, Maria Elena Ducci, Lucília Fernándes, Fiona Smyth Source Type: journals

Measuring the shortage of medical practitioners in rural and urban areas in developing countries: a simple framework and simulation exercises with data from IndiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper suggests a simple framework to estimate the shortage of medical practitioners in rural and urban areas in developing countries. Shortages are defined with respect to four main considerations. The overall numbers and also the different categories of practitioners in the rural and urban areas, the relatively greater difficulties of access in the rural areas (which reduce the number of accessible practitioners) and the greater health hazards in those areas (which lead to greater need for medical treatment).The quantitative effect of these factors is examined by undertaking simulation exercises with data for the Ujj...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 21, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Homi Katrak Source Type: journals

A retrospective content analysis of studies on factors constraining the implementation of health sector reform in GhanaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ghana has undertaken many public service management reforms in the past two decades. But the implementation of the reforms has been constrained by many factors. This paper undertakes a retrospective study of research works on the challenges to the implementation of reforms in the public health sector. It points out that most of the studies identified: (1) centralised, weak and fragmented management system; (2) poor implementation strategy; (3) lack of motivation; (4) weak institutional framework; (5) lack of financial and human resources and (6) staff attitude and behaviour as the major causes of ineffective reform impleme...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 6, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Dr E. Kojo Sakyi Source Type: journals

Control and performance of health care systems. A comparative analysis of 19 OECD countriesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper performs an empirical comparison of health systems.Health systems are seen as networks of delegation relationships among principals and agents, subject to agency problems. Following the institutional economics approach, a health system's efficiency is considered to be determined by the existence and treatment of agency problems. Agency problems can be controlled by mechanisms built into the health system, or can also be controlled by an external actor, for example, the government, either by using the instruments available or by conducting institutional reforms. To explain differences in the amenability of a coun...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 5, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Peter Kotzian Source Type: journals

Access to essential drugs in Guyana: a public health challengeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study analyzes Guyana's drug policy and regulation, public financing, and drug procurement and delivery. The study also identifies main barriers to drug access and proposes alternatives to strengthen the country's public health functions. Data were collected from the country's regulatory agencies, public procurement agency, pharmacies, wholesalers, and pharmaceutical companies. The information was supplemented with interviews with a convenient sample of Guyanese health authorities and stakeholders. Data were also compiled from scientific databases, and web pages of the country's Ministries of Health, Commerce and Fina...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 5, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Rosa Rodriguez-Monguio Source Type: journals

Investigating DRG cost weights for hospitals in low resource countries: an Iranian exampleEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aims to guide costing efforts in Iran and other countries in the region that are pursuing casemix funding, through identifying the main issues facing cost finding approaches and introducing the costing models compatible with their hospitals accounting and management structures. The results show that inadequate financial and utilisation information at the patient's level, poorly computerized 'feeder systems'; and low quality data make it impossible to estimate reliable DRGs costs through clinical costing. A cost modelling approach estimates the average cost of 2.723 million Rials (Iranian Currency) per DRG. Using...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 5, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Shahram Ghaffari, Christopher Doran, Andrew Wilson, Chris Aisbett, Terri Jackson Source Type: journals

Investigating DRG cost weights for hospitals in middle income countriesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aims to guide costing efforts in Iran and other countries in the region that are pursuing casemix funding, through identifying the main issues facing cost finding approaches and introducing the costing models compatible with their hospitals accounting and management structures. The results show that inadequate financial and utilisation information at the patient's level, poorly computerized 'feeder systems'; and low quality data make it impossible to estimate reliable DRGs costs through clinical costing. A cost modelling approach estimates the average cost of 2.723 million Rials (Iranian Currency) per DRG. Using...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 4, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Shahram Ghaffari, Christopher Doran, Andrew Wilson, Chris Aisbett, Terri Jackson Source Type: journals

Institutional factors and HIV/AIDS, TB and MalariaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper outlines the principal institutional factors affecting the slow progress in reaching agreed targets in Africa regarding the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. It focuses on three key factors, political analysis, strategic business approach and international inputs.Much analysis tends to look at the technical aspects of disease prevention and control. Of political analysis there is a marked absence. Yet we know that wider contextual or macro factors such as power and political decision-making can make or break a programme.Many senior managers in public sector institutions are preoccupied with the...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - May 20, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Stephanie Simmonds Source Type: journals

Variations in obstetric practice in Russia: a story of professional autonomy, isolation and limited evidenceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study examines care provided by obstetricians in all 19 facilities in a typical Russian region. A first set of structured interviews was conducted with 52 obstetricians, with emerging themes explored in a second set of interviews with 36 of the original interviewees. Accounts were compared with quantitative data on patterns of practice.Obstetricians had little access to information, with only limited use of Russian journals and textbooks and minimal access to international evidence.The decisions made by obstetricians largely determined the overall pattern of care, with midwives, nurses and anaesthetists clearly subord...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - May 7, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Kirill Danishevski, Martin McKee, Dina Balabanova Source Type: journals

A review of the micronutrient intervention cost literature: program design and policy lessonsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Since the 1993 publication of Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries and World Development Report: Investing in Health, micronutrient fortification and supplementation interventions have been recognized as being among the most cost-effective public health interventions. This paper reviews nearly 100 studies of the cost of micronutrient interventions. The literature contains enormous variation in the estimated costs of these programs due to differences in program structure, delivery systems and a host of country-specific factors, differences in the studies' objectives, designs and costing methodologies. The most...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 29, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: John L. Fiedler, Tina G. Sanghvi, Margaret K. Saunders Source Type: journals

Measuring sustainability as a programming tool for health sector investments - report from a pilot sustainability assessment in five Nepalese health districtsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Sustainability is a critical determinant of scale and impact of health sector development assistance programs. Working with USAID/Nepal implementing partners, we adapted a sustainability assessment framework to help USAID test how an evaluation tool could inform its health portfolio management. The essential first process step was to define the boundaries of the local system being examined. This local system - the unit of analysis of the study - was defined as the health district.We developed a standardized set of assessment tools to measure 53 indicators. Data collection was carried out over 4 weeks by a Nepalese agency. ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 28, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Eric Sarriot, Jim Ricca, Leo Ryan, Jagat Basnet, Sharon Arscott-Mills Source Type: journals

Potential barriers to the application of multi-factor portfolio analysis in public hospitals: evidence from a pilot study in the NetherlandsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Portfolio analysis is a business management tool that can assist health care managers to develop new organizational strategies. The application of portfolio analysis to US hospital settings has been frequently reported. In Europe however, the application of this technique has received little attention, especially concerning public hospitals. Therefore, this paper examines the peculiarities of portfolio analysis and its applicability to the strategic management of European public hospitals. The analysis is based on a pilot application of a multi-factor portfolio analysis in a Dutch university hospital. The nature of portfol...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 25, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Milena Pavlova, Apostolos Tsiachristas, Gerhard Vermaeten, Wim Groot Source Type: journals

Measuring and managing progress in the establishment of basic health services: the Afghanistan health sector balanced scorecardEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) of Afghanistan has adopted the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a tool to measure and manage performance in delivery of a Basic Package of Health Services. Based on results from the 2004 baseline round, the MOPH identified eight of the 29 indicators on the BSC as priority areas for improvement. Like the 2004 round, the 2005 and 2006 BSCs involved a random selection of more than 600 health facilities, 1700 health workers and 5800 patient-provider interactions. The 2005 and 2006 BSCs demonstrated substantial improvements in all eight of the priority areas compared to 2004 baseline levels, with...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 24, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Peter M. Hansen, David H. Peters, Haseebullah Niayesh, Lakhwinder P. Singh, Vikas Dwivedi, Gilbert Burnham Source Type: journals

Orphan drug legislation: lessons for neglected tropical diseasesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In the last 20 years, orphan drug legislation (ODL) has been adopted in several countries around the world (USA, Japan, Australia, and the European Union) and has successfully promoted R&D investments to develop new pharmaceutical products for the treatment of rare diseases. Without these incentives, many life-saving new drugs would have not been developed and produced.For economic reasons, the development of medicines for the treatment of diseases prevalent in the developing world (or tropical diseases) is lagging behind. Among several factors, the low average per-capita income makes pharmaceutical markets in developing c...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - April 24, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Stefano Villa, Amelia Compagni, Michael R. Reich Source Type: journals

Erratum: Hospital management in the context of health sector reform: a planning model in EthiopiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No Abstract. (Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management)
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - March 3, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Kari Hartwig, Josh Pashman, Emily Cherlin, Martha Dale, Marguerite Callaway, Cindy Czaplinski, W. Edward Wood, Yigeremu Abebe, Timothy Dentry, Elizabeth H. Bradley Source Type: journals

Promotion and prevention within a decentralized framework: changing health care in Brazil and ChileEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The study aims to define configurations of factors from local, regional and national levels that, within a context of decentralized health systems, enable or hinder change towards a health care model of promotion and disease prevention as advocated in current Latin American public health discourse. The project made in-depth case studies of prevention and promotion activities in eight local health systems in rural and urban Brazil and Chile allowing three levels of comparison: national, regional and local. The data are based on interviews, secondary sources, policy documentation and observations.The results are summarized a...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - January 30, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Sarah Atkinson, Amélia Cohn, Maria E. Ducci, Lucília Fernándes, Fiona Smyth Source Type: journals

Towards network and citizen: collaborative care for drug abusersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study focuses on how the inter-organizational collaboration was conducted in the care for drug abusers over a period of 5 years. The study sought to answer the following questions: Which effect does inter-organizational collaboration have on ways-of-working among professionals and which effect does inter-organizational collaboration have on the services provided by the clients?We argue that inter-organizational collaboration is developed through three processes. First, the professionals redefine 'areas of responsibilities' in the different organizations. Second, the professionals 'reconstruct their ways of working' wi...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - January 16, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Anita Kihlström, Ewa Wikström Source Type: journals

Determinants of public satisfaction with the National Health Insurance in South KoreaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To explore the determinants of public satisfaction with the National Health Insurance, this study re-analyzed the 2004 public satisfaction survey with the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI) conducted by Korean National Health Insurance Corporation (KNHIC). One thousand samples were selected with probability proportional to population size (by region/sex/age). The data collected by home-visit interview were transformed into the final data set by matching them to the insured's benefit database and the qualification database. The results showed that metropolitan residence, insured type, relationship between respondent an...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - December 22, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Sang-Yi Lee, Nam Kyu Suh, Jung-Kook Song Source Type: journals

Hospital management in the context of health sector reform: a planning model in EthiopiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Through health sector reform in developing countries, Ministries of Health have sought to enhance health care through greater community governance and improved management effectiveness in their public hospitals. In this paper, we present a partnership-mentoring model for enhancing management capacity that has been piloted in Ethiopia and may be useful in other developing countries. The model included needs assessment and baseline evaluation using a hospital management indicator checklist, deployment of 24 Fellows (US and international hospital administrators) for 1 year to work as mentors with hospital management teams in ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - December 21, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Kari Hartwig, Josh Pashman, Emily Cherlin, Martha Dale, Marguerite Callaway, Cindy Czaplinski, W. Edward Wood, Yigeremu Abebe, Timothy Dentry, Elizabeth H. Bradley Source Type: journals

Extending social health insurance to the informal sector in Kenya. An assessment of factors affecting demandEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper contributes to analysing and understanding the demand for (social) health insurance of informal sector workers in Kenya by assessing their perceptions and knowledge of and concerns regarding health insurance and the Kenyan National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). It serves to explore how informal sector workers could be integrated into the NHIF.To collect data, focus group discussions were held with organized groups of informal sector workers of different types across the country, backed up by a self-administered questionnaire completed by heads of NHIF area branch offices.It was found that the most critical bar...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - November 30, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Inke Mathauer, Jean-Olivier Schmidt, Maurice Wenyaa Source Type: journals

Hospital costs estimation and prediction as a function of patient and admission characteristicsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The present work analyzed the association between hospital costs and patient admission characteristics in a general public hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The unit costs method was used to estimate inpatient day costs associated to specific hospital clinics. With this aim, three "cost centers" were defined in order to group direct and indirect expenses pertaining to the clinics. After the costs were estimated, a standard linear regression model was developed for correlating cost units and their putative predictors (the patients gender and age, the admission type (urgency/elective), ICU admission (yes/no), b...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - November 29, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Robert Ramiarina, Renan MVR Almeida, Wagner CA Pereira Source Type: journals

Ranking of priorities in employees' reward and recognition schemes: from the perspective of UAE health care employeesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A reward and recognition (RR) system is a tool widely applied by organizations to motivate their employees. Outstanding employees expect their effort to be acknowledged by the organization. However, the variety of rewards and recognitions systems used by organizations may be perceived differently by different employees. The diverse workforce structure in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) poses various challenges for organization managers. Managers need to implement the shrewd RR system which best fits their diverse workforce. This research studied how medical sector employees in the private and public health sector view the R...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - November 15, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Hassan Younies, Belal Barhem, Mustafa Z. Younis Source Type: journals

Equity, governance and financing after health care reform: lessons from MexicoEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To determine, from the perspective of providers, community leaders and users of health services, equity, governance and health financing outcomes of the Mexican health system reform.Cross-sectional study oriented towards the qualitative analysis of financing, governance and equity indicators for the uninsured population. Taking into account feasibility, as well as political and technical criteria, six Mexican states were selected as study populations and a qualitative research was conducted during 2004-2006. Two hundred and forty in-depth interviews were applied, in all selected states, to 60 decision-makers, including med...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - November 14, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Armando Arredondo, Emanuel Orozco Source Type: journals

A simple primary care information system featuring feedback to cliniciansEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A simple information system for primary care clinics was designed to support the USAID funded health system strengthening project in the Suez Governorate in Egypt. This system (FACT - Feedback and Analytic Comparison Tool) was implemented in December 2003 in 14 primary care clinics. The MS Access-based system was designed and prototyped in several months, and was easily and cheaply modified several times after implementation. A total of 128 562 persons have been registered in the system (as of June 2005) and 36 083 visits have been documented. A key feature of FACT is the ease with which clinicians can conduct exploratory ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 13, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Gary Gaumer, Nefesa Hassan, Michael Murphy Source Type: journals

Optimizing in-kind drug donations for Tanzania - a case studyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A questionnaire survey (QS) among stakeholders in Tanzania had shown that in-kind drug donations (DDs) are important to boost the drug supply system. Major problems were their insufficient quantity for sustainable treatment and the discrepancy between the needs of the recipients and the donors' supply. Objectives in this study were to discuss these findings and to learn from key informants (KIs) how to improve the DD process. Data were collected through KI interviews in 2001/2002.A 30% gap in drug supply has to be bridged by DDs. KIs confirmed the importance of the World Health Organisation and Tanzanian DD guidelines as a...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - September 6, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Gaby Gehler Mariacher, Deo Mtasiwa, Karin Wiedenmayer, Rudolf Bruppacher, Marcel Tanner, Kurt E. Hersberger Source Type: journals

Outsourcing in the Italian National Health Service: findings from a national surveyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Over the last decade, outsourcing has become one of the major issues in health care. Two major concerns are related to public health care outsourcing practice. The first one involves the suitability of the outsourcing strategy in the public sector, principally with reference to the outsourcing of essential clinical services. The second one relates to the actual benefits of the outsourcing practice in health care, in terms of cost reduction and increasing efficiency.This paper aims to contribute to the debate and literature on outsourcing through a national survey carried out in the Italian National Health Service.In order ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 31, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Manuela S. Macinati Source Type: journals

The impact of integrating the elimination programme for lymphatic filariasis into primary health care in the Dominican RepublicEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study also identified challenges to implementing integration and the solutions found. These include the importance of focusing on the professional development of disease-specific program staff as their roles change, strengthening specific weakness in the general health system and finding alternative solutions where these are not easily solved, actively engaging senior management at an early stage, continually evaluating the impact of integration and not pushing integration for the sake of integration. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management)
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 30, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Margaret C. Baker, Deborah A. McFarland, Manuel Gonzales, Mary Janet Diaz, David H. Molyneux Source Type: journals

Primary health care reform in UzbekistanEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In recent years, primary health care in Uzbekistan has seen dramatic changes in organization, management and financing. The Soviet multi-tiered system of primary care is being replaced by a two-tiered system, consisting in rural areas of rural physician points (SVPs) and outpatient clinics of central rayon hospitals. A state-guaranteed benefits package of primary care services has been introduced and financing is increasingly based on capitation. In addition, a considerable number of physicians and nurses have been trained in general practice. There are, however, a number of challenges that remain. One of them is the consi...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 29, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Mohir Ahmedov, Bernd Rechel, Vasila Alimova, Ravshan Azimov Source Type: journals

Management initiatives in a community-based health insurance schemeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes have developed in response to inadequacies of alternate systems for protecting the poor against health care expenditures. Some of these schemes have arisen within community-based organizations (CBOs), which have strong links with poor communities, and are therefore well situated to offer CBHI. However, the managerial capacities of many such CBOs are limited. This paper describes management initiatives undertaken in a CBHI scheme in India, in the course of an action-research project. The existing structures and systems at the CBHI had several strengths, but fell short on some ...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 21, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Tara Sinha, M. Kent Ranson, Mirai Chatterjee, Anne Mills Source Type: journals

Institutional factors and HIV/AIDS, TB and MalariaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper outlines the principal institutional factors affecting the slow progress in reaching agreed targets in Africa regarding the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. It focuses on three key factors: political analysis, strategic business approach and international inputs.Most of the analyses tend to look at the technical aspects of disease prevention and control, of political analysis there is a marked absence. Yet, we know that wider contextual or macro factors such as power and political decision making can make or break a programme.Many senior managers in public sector institutions are preoccupied w...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - August 18, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Stephanie Simmonds Source Type: journals

A sustainability assessment of a health equity fund initiative in CambodiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reports on a study of one type of HEF, based in Kirivong Operational Health District (KOD) and operated through local pagoda structures, which demonstrates minimal reliance on external funding and low administrative overheads. We utilize an adapted sustainability assessment framework to assess the ability of pagoda structures to enable financial access for the poorest to public sector health services. We further analyse the strengths and limitations of the pagoda-managed equity fund initiative, with a view to assessing not only its sustainability but its potential for replication in other settings.Our study sh...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 16, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Bart Jacobs, Neil Price, Sam Oeun Sam Source Type: journals

Focusing on the software of managing health workers: what can we learn from high commitment management practices?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Knowledge of what constitutes best practice in human resource management (HRM) in public-oriented services is limited and the operational aspects of managing health workers at provision level have been poorly studied. The magnet hospital concept offers some insights into HRM practices that are leading to high commitment. These have been shown to lead to superior performance in not only industrial business firms, but also service industries and the public service. The mechanisms that drive these practices include positive psychological links between managers and staff, organizational commitment and trust. Conditions for suc...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 6, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Bruno Marchal, Guy Kegels Source Type: journals

Analysis of hospital costs as a basis for pricing services in MaliEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In a move to achieve a better equity in the funding of access to health care, particularly for the poor, a better efficiency of hospital functioning and a better financial balance, the analysis of hospital costs in Mali brings several key elements to improve the pricing of medical services. The method utilized is the classical step-down process which takes into consideration the entire set of direct and indirect costs borne by the hospital. Although this approach does not allow to estimate the economic cost of consultations, it is a useful contribution to assess the financial activity of the hospital and improve its perfor...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - June 5, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Martine Audibert, Jacky Mathonnat, Delphine Pareil, Raymond Kabamba Source Type: journals

A methodological and operative framework for the evaluation of an e-health projectEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Assessing public sector ICT investments represents the premise for successful implementation of an e-health strategy. The recent literature stresses the importance of going beyond the mere financial and/or technical dimensions of the analysis. Consequently, the paper proposes an example of e-health project evaluation aiming to develop measures which get close to the notion of benefits to the different stakeholders involved: top management, patients, local community. The case study refers to an Italian health care organization that implemented a project of digitalization of its clinical reports production few years ago. Bas...
Source: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management - May 17, 2007 Category: Health Management Authors: Luca Buccoliero, Stefano Calciolari, Marta Marsilio Source Type: journals