Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dealing With 'Messy Policy Problems' In The Health Care Sector, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

In his new book, Dealing with Messy Policy Problems, to be published in April 2009, political science professor Steven Ney of the Singapore Management University offers insights on how to make sense of complex, messy and often overlapping policy problems. Ney contends that having conflicts is a necessary part of the process of finding solutions to complex policy issues. He spoke to Knowledge@SMU on policy issues relating to the crisis in global health care. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Water Borne Diseases And Rural Development In Sudan Study Of Malaria In Gezira Irrigated Agricultural Scheme, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Gezira irrigated scheme is globally one of the biggest agricultural productive units administratively managed. It has seen deteriorating productivity for the past two decades. There cries that it should be privatized. That was seriously taken by the government in an economic liquidation of its assets. However, in this study we discuss analyze other aspects than the previously mentioned aspects of production parameters. We focus of health economics and how gradual negligence led to the prevalence of waterborne diseases. That degenerated farmers' abilities to produce. The present study was carried out in the Gezira scheme to measure the impact of water …

The Likely Impact Of Mandated Paid Sick And Family-Care Leave On The Economy And Economic Development Prospects Of The State Of Ohio, Edward W. Hill, Spence Christopher, Daila Shimek, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report analyzes the potential impact of a proposed paid sick and family care leave legislation on the economy of the state of Ohio, the economic development prospects of the state and on the management of production processes that depend on highly integrate teams. The report also reviews the literature on the effect of mandated paid sick and family care leave on the industrial relations system—workplace performance and worker retention. Our analysis concludes that there would have been a net cost associated with the paid sick leave and family-care initiative proposed in Ohio with a lower bound estimate of $63.84 …

Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?, Alan M. Garber, Jonathan Skinner

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Empowering The Public Health Service, Louis Graham

Louis F Graham

Positioning Hospice Care Within The Black And Hispanic Communities, Carol Armstrong

Graduate Theses

Nationally, hospice care and the signing of advance directives are underutilized by minority populations. Research on this phenomenon includes cultural differences, access to medical care and language barriers. A retrospective study of 1,817 closed patient charts from a local hospice was conducted to determine significant differences among the White, Black and Hispanic patient populations. The number of White patients admitted to both hospice homecare and to the hospice inpatient was significantly greater than the number of admissions of either the Black or Hispanic patients. There were no significant findings in the total number of services provided to each of the …

For Love, Money Or Flexibility: Why People Choose To Work In Consumer-Directed Homecare, Candace Howes

Economics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of wages and benefits (relative to other jobs available to workers), controlling for personal characteristics, on the recruitment and retention of providers working in a consumer-directed home care program.

This article was written as part of a project titled ‘‘Building a High Quality Homecare Workforce: Wages, Benefits and Flexibility Matter,’’ which was supported by a research grant from the Better Jobs Better Care Program and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#049213) and Atlantic Philanthropies (#12099) with direction and technical assistance provided by the Institute for the Future of …

Singapore Company Promises Dialysis Treatment Breakthrough, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

If all goes well, two years from now kidney patients will get a new lease of life when a portable, artificial kidney is launched by a Singapore-based company. AWAK Technologies was formed in 2007 to commercialise a technology that allows people suffering from kidney failure to lead a life that is close to normal. AWAK CEO Neo Kok Beng spoke recently on “Disrupting the Kidney Dialysis Market: Revolutionary Technologies & Business Models” at a CEO Talks forum organised by the Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University.

The Impact Of Being Born With Cleft And Cleft Reparative Surgery On Overall Health And Speech Outcomes, Khatansuudal Evsanaa

Master's Theses

Orofacial cleft is one of the most common and treatable birth defects in the world. If left untreated, orofacial cleft can impair normal speech development, growth, and could lead to a number of health consequences later in life. The main motivation of the study is to measure the impact of being born with cleft and the cleft reparative surgery on overall speech and health cleft for teenagers in India using difference-in-differences approach along with household fixed effects method. An overall health outcome was measured using height, weight, grip strength and BMI, and the speech acceptability was measured using a “Universal …

Designing A Successful Pbrn In Public Health: Key Concepts, Glen P. Mays, Sharla A. Smith

Glen Mays

Successful public health practice-based research networks (PBRNs) will require organizational, financial, and intellectual resources that allow practitioners and researchers to mount relevant studies in real-world public health settings. This brief outlines characteristics likely to be important to the success of public health PBRNs, based on the experience of PBRNs in other practice settings

Gene Patenting In The Life Sciences Industry: Boon Or Bane?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Does gene patenting encourage or hinder knowledge diffusion and take-up in the life sciences industry? Research by Singapore Management University management professor Kenneth Huang, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology management professor Fiona Murray found that patenting can have a negative impact on scientific progress. Huang spoke to Knowledge@SMU about the implications of his research findings in the Singapore context.

Preference Heterogeneity And Insurance Markets: Explaining A Puzzle Of Insurance, David M. Cutler, Amy Finkelstein, Kathleen Mcgarry

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Productivity Spillovers In Healthcare: Evidence From The Treatment Of Heart Attacks, Amitabh Chandra, Douglas O. Staiger

Dartmouth Scholarship

A large literature in medicine documents variation across areas in the use of surgical treatments that is unrelated to outcomes. Observers of this phenomena have invoked “flat of the curve medicine” to explain these facts, and have advocated for reductions in spending in high-use areas. In contrast, we develop a simple Roy model of patient treatment choice with productivity spillovers that can generate the empirical facts. Our model predicts that high-use areas will have higher returns to surgery, better outcomes among patients most appropriate for surgery, and worse outcomes among patients least appropriate for surgery, while displaying no relationship between …

Finding Order In Complexity: A Typology Of Local Public Health Delivery Systems, Glen Mays

Glen Mays

Public health decision-makers and researchers currently lack an evidence-based framework for describing, classifying, and comparing public health delivery systems based on their organizational components, operational characteristics, and division of responsibility. Related typologies developed in the health services sector have proven extremely valuable for policy and administrative decision-making as well as for ongoing research. Performance assessment, quality improvement, and accreditation activities are now blossoming in public health—adding urgency to the need for classification and comparison frameworks. This brief describes a newly-developed empirical typology for local public health systems and highlights its policy and managerial applications.

Download The Pdf Of The Full Issue

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Spouse Accountability In Wellness Program Requirements

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Benefits College Program Schedule For 2008, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Challenges And Benefits In Using Productivity Data From Clinical Trials For Vbp Decisions, Thomas J. Bunz, Pharm.D., Laura T. Pizzi

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Making value based purchasing decisions in healthcare requires balancing data from several sources. Information on effectiveness of interventions often comes from clinical trials, with less reliance on observational studies. Historically, the opposite has been true of information on the cost of interventions. More recently, providers of healthcare interventions such as drugs, devices, and disease management programs have begun to understand and appreciate the importance of costs in healthcare decision making. Because of this, the clinical trials used to demonstrate effectiveness have begun to gather data on costs. This article describes some benefits and detriments of collecting cost data as a …

The Emerging Role Of Electronic Medical Records - What Do They Mean To Quality And Value?, Richard Jacoby

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

President Bush identified electronic medical records (EMRs), also known as electronic health records (EHRs), as one of the 4 cornerstones in his value driven health care initiative. EMRs represent a “disruptive technology” insofar as they change the way we capture, store, retrieve, share, and use health information. Because they have the ability to transform and enhance virtually all communications, transactions, and analyses involving healthcare information, implementation of EMRs will have a profound effect on patients, providers, and payers. The transformation likely will parallel the one which occurred as information technology enhanced knowledge and productivity in the non-healthcare segments of the …

The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services’ Approach To Value-Based Purchasing, Bettina Berman

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Although evidence suggests that both the quality and the affordability of health care can be improved¹, it is likely that such improvements will come at great cost. Healthcare expenditures in the United States (U.S.) are expected to rise precipitously - from $1.5 trillion in 2005 to over $4 trillion in 2016.² Medicare, the nation’s single largest health care purchaser, spent an estimated $425 billion on health services in 2007. With the projected growth in Medicare beneficiaries, the amount may surpass $800 billion by 2017, placing the government under significant pressure to control health care costs.³

This …

Uncle Sam's Debut On The Value-Based Purchasing Stage, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Economic Costs Of Childhood Poverty In The United States, Harry Holzer, Diane Schanzenbach, Jens Ludwig, Greg Duncan

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

No abstract provided.

Insurer Competitive Strategy And Enrollment In Newly Offered Preferred Provider Organizations (Ppo), Richard Hirth, Kyle Grazier, Michael Chernew, Edward Okeke

Edward Okeke

While early PPO growth coincided with growth of managed care generally, recent growth has come primarily at the expense of other managed care plans. Little is known about the micro behavior underlying these trends. In 2005, University of Michigan employees were offered PPOs for the first time by vendors who also offered other plans. PPOs helped the offering vendors maintain or grow their total enrollment share. PPOs were most attractive to workers who had previously chosen less managed plans. Because PPOs drew few enrollees from HMOs, there was little evidence of a backlash against managed care in the context of …

“Selling Licenses For A Process Innovation: The Impact Of The Product Market On The Selling Mechanism, Aniruddha Bagchi

Aniruddha Bagchi