Effects of a pressure-ulcer audit and feedback regional programme at 1 and 2 years in nursing homes: A prospective longitudinal study

INTRODUCTION

Pressure ulcer is a frequent complication in patients hospitalized in nursing homes and has a serious impact on quality of life and overall health. Moreover, ulcer treatment is highly expensive. Several studies have shown that pressure ulcer prevention is cost-effective. Audit and feedback programmes can help improve professional practices in pressure ulcer prevention and thus reduce their occurrence. The aim of this study was to analyze, with a prospective longitudinal study, the effectiveness of an audit and feedback programme at 1- and 2-year follow-up for reducing pressure ulcer prevalence and enhancing adherence to preventive practices in nursing homes.

METHODS

Pressure ulcer point prevalence and preventive practices were measured in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in nursing homes of the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland). Oral and written feedback was provided 2 months after every survey to nursing home reference nurses.

RESULTS

A total of 27 nursing homes participated in the programme in 2015 and 2016 (4607 patients) and 15 continued in 2017 (1357 patients). Patients were mostly females, with mean age > 86 years and median length of stay about 2 years. The programme significantly improved two preventive measures: patient repositioning and anti-decubitus bed or mattress. It also reduced acquired pressure ulcers prevalence in nursing homes that participated during all 3 years (from 4.5% in 2015 to 2.9% in 2017, p 0.035), especially in those with more patients with pressure ulcers.

CONCLUSION

Audit and feedback is relatively easy to implement at the regional level in nursing homes and can enhance adherence to preventive measures and reduce pressure ulcers prevalence in the homes.

Prevention of non-communicable disease: best buys, wasted buys, and contestable buys

Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai and colleagues highlight the importance of local context in making decisions about implementing interventions for preventing non-communicable diseases

A media content analysis of New Zealand's district health board Population-Based Funding Formula

AIM

The Population-Based Funding Formula (PBFF) has a significant impact on health funding distribution between New Zealand's 20 district health boards (DHBs) yet is subject to little independent oversight or public scrutiny. There has been widespread dissatisfaction among DHBs with the allocation process; however, there are limited formal avenues available for DHBs and the public to discuss the PBFF. As such, the news media has become a key platform for voicing concerns. This study aims to gain a better understanding of how the PBFF is portrayed in the news media and of perceptions of funding allocations across the country.

METHOD

We conducted thematic analyses of 487 newspaper articles about the PBFF, published over 13 years from 2003-2016. We then identified trends in the data.

RESULTS

Typically presented in a negative light, the PBFF was commonly framed against a background of financial struggle and resultant impacts on health services and staff. The effect of factors driving DHB allocations and the PBFF process itself were also key themes. There were significant regional and temporal variations in reporting volume, with most articles focusing on South Island DHBs and occurring during the introduction of the PBFF and at the time of the most recent review.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest general discontent with the PBFF model across the DHB sector and a sense that the PBFF has failed to address various challenges facing DHBs. The geographic imbalance in reporting volume suggests that frustration with the PBFF is particularly keenly felt in the South Island. Although the PBFF is a lightning rod for frustrations over limited health funding, the findings point to the need to improve transparency and dialogue around the formula and to monitor of the impact of PBFF allocations throughout the country.

Scale Effects and Expected Savings from Consolidation Policies of Italian Local Healthcare Authorities

BACKGROUND

Consolidation is often considered by policymakers as a means to reduce service delivery costs and enhance accountability.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to estimate the potential cost savings that may be derived from consolidation of local health authorities (LHAs) with specific reference to the Italian setting.

METHODS

For our empirical analysis, we use data relating to the costs of the LHAs as reported in the 2012 LHAs' Income Statements published within the New Health Information System (NSIS) by the Ministry of Health. With respect to the previous literature on the consolidation of local health departments (LHDs), which is based on ex-post-assessments on what has been the impact of the consolidation of LHDs on health spending, we use an ex-ante-evaluation design and simulate the potential cost savings that may arise from the consolidation of LHAs.

RESULTS

Our results show the existence of economies of scale with reference to a particular subset of the production costs of LHAs, i.e. administrative costs together with the purchasing costs of goods (such as drugs and medical devices) as well as non-healthcare-related services.

CONCLUSIONS

The research findings of our paper provide practical insight into the concerns and challenges of LHA consolidations and may have important implications for NHS organisation and for the containment of public healthcare expenditure.

Care Appropriateness and Health Productivity Evolution: A Non-Parametric Analysis of the Italian Regional Health Systems

BACKGROUND

There has been increasing interest in measuring the productive performance of healthcare services since the mid-1980s.

OBJECTIVE

By applying bootstrapped data envelopment analysis across the 20 Italian Regional Health Systems (RHSs) for the period 2008-2012, we employed a two-stage procedure to investigate the relationship between care appropriateness and productivity evolution in public hospital services.

METHODS

In the first stage, we estimated the Malmquist index and decomposed this overall measure of productivity into efficiency and technological change. In the second stage, the two components of the Malmquist index were regressed on a set of variables measuring per capita health expenditure, care appropriateness, and clinical appropriateness.

RESULTS

Malmquist analysis shows that no gains in productivity in the health industry have been achieved in Italy despite the sequence of reforms that took place during the 1990s, which were devoted to increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Analysis of the efficiency change index clearly indicates that the source of productivity gain relies on a rationalization of the employed inputs in the Italian RHSs. At the same time, the trend of the technological change index reveals that the health systems in the three macro-areas (North, Central, and South) are characterized by technological regress.

CONCLUSION

Overall, our results suggest that productivity increases could be achieved in the Italian health system by reducing the level of inputs, improving care and clinical appropriateness, and by counteracting the 'DRG (diagnosis-related group) creep' phenomenon.

IANUA: a regional project for the determination of costs in HIV-infected patients

HIV treatment is based on combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) which has substantially improved survival, thus resulting in an increase in patient life expectancy as well as in the cost of HIV-related medical care. Therefore, several cost effectiveness studies were implemented worldwide, with one specifically in the Liguria region (Italy), to compare the annual economic expense in this area for HIV services, and the related improvement in patients' health. The IANUA project is intended to implement both cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis, therefore data related to clinical indicators and perceived health status were collected, the latter using a questionnaire based on the EQ-5D-3L. Information about the antiretroviral drugs and the relative quantity that a patient withdraws from the hospital pharmacy every month were extracted from the regional "F-file". All data gathered were stored in the Ligurian HIV Network, a web platform developed by the DIBRIS - Medinfo laboratory. More than eight hundred questionnaires were collected, and data will be elaborated by economists and psychologists. The first statistical elaborations showed that, as expected, costs increased as the number of therapeutic lines increased. Moreover, the average annual costs for patients whose last CD4 values were below 200 cells/mmc corresponded to the maximum expense recorded, however, the cost for patients with final CD4 counts above 500 cells/mmc was not, as expected, the lowest found. This can be explained by the fact that stabilized patients, who had CD4 values below 500 cells/mmc, did not need very expensive care, while patients with CD4 counts above 500 cells/mmc improved their health status thanks to cART.

The cyclical behaviour of public and private health expenditure in China

This paper studies short-run cyclical behaviour of public (government and social) and private health expenditure and GDP using both time series and panel data techniques. First, national time series data have been used within a multivariate Beveridge-Nelson decomposition framework to construct the permanent and cyclical components. The correlation analysis results for the cyclical components suggest that current public health expenditure is pro-cyclical while there is no clear evidence of a correlation between cycles in private health expenditure and in GDP growth. Next, using an instrumental variable method and the generalised method of moments estimator, provincial-level panel data analyses confirm pro-cyclical impacts of government spending on health. The provincial analysis also suggests that private health expenditure in urban China has a pro-cyclical association with GDP growth, but a lack of good instruments makes it difficult to identify a clear causal link between cycles in income growth and private health expenditure. The results suggest two policy recommendations relevant to public health expenditure, in line with China's current health reforms.

Measuring health system strengthening: application of the balanced scorecard approach to rank the baseline performance of three rural districts in Zambia

Introduction

There is growing interest in health system performance and recently WHO launched a report on health systems strengthening emphasising the need for close monitoring using system-wide approaches. One recent method is the balanced scorecard system. There is limited application of this method in middle- and low-income countries. This paper applies the concept of balanced scorecard to describe the baseline status of three intervention districts in Zambia.

Methodology

The Better Health Outcome through Mentoring and Assessment (BHOMA) project is a randomised step-wedged community intervention that aims to strengthen the health system in three districts in the Republic of Zambia. To assess the baseline status of the participating districts we used a modified balanced scorecard approach following the domains highlighted in the MOH 2011 Strategic Plan.

Results

Differences in performance were noted by district and residence. Finance and service delivery domains performed poorly in all study districts. The proportion of the health workers receiving training in the past 12 months was lowest in Kafue (58%) and highest in Luangwa district (77%). Under service capacity, basic equipment and laboratory capacity scores showed major variation, with Kafue and Luangwa having lower scores when compared to Chongwe. The finance domain showed that Kafue and Chongwe had lower scores (44% and 47% respectively). Regression model showed that children's clinical observation scores were negatively correlated with drug availability (coeff −0.40, p = 0.02). Adult clinical observation scores were positively association with adult service satisfaction score (coeff 0.82, p = 0.04) and service readiness (coeff 0.54, p = 0.03).

Conclusion

The study applied the balanced scorecard to describe the baseline status of 42 health facilities in three districts of Zambia. Differences in performance were noted by district and residence in most domains with finance and service delivery performing poorly in all study districts. This tool could be valuable in monitoring and evaluation of health systems.

Comparing local and regional variation in health care spending

BACKGROUND

Wide geographic variation in health care spending has generated both concern about inefficiency and policy debate about geographic-based payment reform. Evidence regarding variation has focused on hospital referral regions (HRRs), which incorporate numerous local hospital service areas (HSAs). If there is substantial variation across local areas within HRRs, then policies focusing on HRRs may be poorly targeted.

METHODS

Using prescription drug and medical claims data from a 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 2006 through 2009, we compared variation in health care spending and utilization among 306 HRRs and 3436 HSAs. We adjusted for beneficiary-level demographic characteristics, insurance status, and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS

There was substantial local variation in health care (drug and nondrug) utilization and spending. Furthermore, many of the low-spending HSAs were located in high-spending HRRs, and many of the high-spending HSAs were in low-spending HRRs. For drug spending, only 50.7% of the HSAs located within the borders of the highest-spending quintile of HRRs were in the highest-spending quintile of HSAs; conversely, only 51.5% of the highest-spending HSAs were located within the borders of the highest-spending HRRs. Similar patterns were observed for nondrug spending.

CONCLUSIONS

The effectiveness of payment reforms in reducing overutilization while maintaining access to high-quality care depends on the effectiveness of targeting. Our analysis suggests that HRR-based policies may be too crudely targeted to promote the best use of health care resources. (Funded by the Institute of Medicine and others.).

Community-based health information technology alliances: potential predictors of early sustainability

OBJECTIVE

To determine potential predictors of sustainability among community-based organizations that are implementing health information technology (HIT) with health information exchange, in a state with significant funding of such organizations.

STUDY DESIGN

A longitudinal cohort study of community-based organizations funded through the first phase of the $440 million Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers program.

METHODS

We administered a baseline telephone survey in January and February 2007, using a novel instrument with open-ended questions, and collected follow-up data from the New York State Department of Health regarding subsequent funding awarded in March 2008. We used logistic regression to determine associations between 18 organizational characteristics and subsequent funding.

RESULTS

All 26 organizations (100%) responded. Having the alliance led by a health information organization (odds ratio [OR] 11.4, P = .01) and having performed a community-based needs assessment (OR 5.1, P = .08) increased the unadjusted odds of subsequent funding. Having the intervention target the long-term care setting (OR 0.14, P = .03) decreased the unadjusted odds of subsequent funding. In the multivariate model, having the alliance led by a health information organization, rather than a healthcare organization, increased the odds of subsequent funding (adjusted OR 6.4; 95% confidence interval 0.8, 52.6; P = .08).

CONCLUSION

Results from this longitudinal study suggest that both health information organizations and healthcare organizations are needed for sustainable HIT transformation.

Do regional primary-care organisations influence primary-care performance? A dynamic panel estimation

The role of regional primary-care organizations (PCOs) in health-care systems is not well understood. This is the first study to attempt to isolate the effect of regional PCOs on primary-care performance. We examine Divisions of General Practice in Australia, which were established in 1992. A unique Division-level panel data set is used to examine the effect of Divisions, and their activities, on various aspects of primary-care performance. Dynamic panel estimation is used to account for state dependence and the endogeneity of Divisions' activities. The results show that Divisions were more likely to have influenced general practice infrastructure than clinical performance in diabetes, asthma and cervical screening. The effect of specific Division activities, such as providing support for practice nurses and IT support, was not directly related to changes in the level of general practice performance. Specific support in the areas of diabetes and asthma was associated with general practice performance, but this was due to reverse causality and the effect of unobservable factors, rather than the direct effect of Divisions.

Inefficiency differences between critical access hospitals and prospectively paid rural hospitals

The Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) contains incentives for hospitals to improve efficiency by placing them at financial risk to earn a positive margin on services rendered to Medicare patients. Concerns about the financial viability of small rural hospitals led to the implementation of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program) of 1997, which allows facilities designated as critical access hospitals (CAHs) to be paid on a reasonable cost basis for inpatient and outpatient services. This article compares the cost inefficiency of CAHs with that of nonconverting rural hospitals to contrast the performance of hospitals operating under the different payment systems. Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) was used to estimate cost inefficiency. Analysis was performed on pooled time-series, cross-sectional data from thirty-four states for the period 1997-2004. Average estimated cost inefficiency was greater in CAHs (15.9 percent) than in nonconverting rural hospitals (10.3 percent). Further, there was a positive association between length of time in the CAH program and estimated cost inefficiency. CAHs exhibited poorer values for a number of proxy measures for efficiency, including expenses per admission and labor productivity (full-time-equivalent employees per outpatient-adjusted admission). Non-CAH rural hospitals had a stronger correlation between cost inefficiency and operating margin than CAH facilities did.

Costs of neonatal care for low-birthweight babies in English hospitals

AIM

To estimate mean costs of neonatal care for babies with birthweights <or=1800 g in a regional Level 3 unit and three Level 2 units providing short-term intensive care.

METHOD

Babies <or=1800 g admitted to units in four hospitals in England over 15 months in 2001-2002 were audited until discharge. Unit costs (2005-2006 prices) were attributed to their resource items, including neonatal cot occupancy, pharmaceuticals, blood products and ambulance transfers. Bootstrapped mean costs were derived for the Level 3 unit and the Level 2 units combined.

RESULTS

The mean gestation period for 199 Level 3 babies was 29.5 weeks compared with 30.4 weeks for 192 Level 2 babies (p = 0.003). Mean costs excluding ambulance journeys were pound17,861 per Level 3 baby and pound12,344 per Level 2 baby. Level 3 babies <1000 g averaged pound26,815, whereas Level 2 babies <1000 g were generally less costly than babies 1000-1499 g. Ambulances transported 76 Level 3 babies and 62 Level 2 babies; their adjusted mean costs were pound18,495 and pound12,881, respectively.

CONCLUSION

By comprehensively costing resource components, the magnitude of total costs for low-birthweight babies has been revealed, thus demonstrating the importance of budgets for neonatal units being realistically determined by commissioners of neonatal services.

The costs and savings of a regional public palliative care program: the Catalan experience at 18 years

Conceived as a World Health Organization demonstration project for public health initiatives at the end of life, the palliative care program in Catalonia illustrates the impact that similar initiatives may have in terms of cost savings for a regional health system. In a publicly funded and freely accessible health system, decreasing the number of hospital admissions, shortening the lengths of hospital stay, diminishing the frequency of emergency room consultations, shifting the use of acute hospital beds to palliative care beds for treating advanced disease inpatients, and substantially improving the use of opioids in the community are major determinants of the palliative care program's success. These features add to the opportunity the discipline offers to improve the quality of health care at the end of life. In this article, the information gathered over an 18-year trajectory of the program is summarized. Key features of the existing financial models used while developing palliative care in Catalonia are described, and the mechanisms by which palliative care may have contributed to increase savings for the health care system in end-of-life care, from euro3,000,000 in 1995 to euro8,000,000 in 2005, are discussed.

Globally optimal trial design for local decision making

Value of information methods allows decision makers to identify efficient trial design following a principle of maximizing the expected value to decision makers of information from potential trial designs relative to their expected cost. However, in health technology assessment (HTA) the restrictive assumption has been made that, prospectively, there is only expected value of sample information from research commissioned within jurisdiction. This paper extends the framework for optimal trial design and decision making within jurisdiction to allow for optimal trial design across jurisdictions. This is illustrated in identifying an optimal trial design for decision making across the US, the UK and Australia for early versus late external cephalic version for pregnant women presenting in the breech position. The expected net gain from locally optimal trial designs of US$0.72M is shown to increase to US$1.14M with a globally optimal trial design. In general, the proposed method of globally optimal trial design improves on optimal trial design within jurisdictions by: (i) reflecting the global value of non-rival information; (ii) allowing optimal allocation of trial sample across jurisdictions; (iii) avoiding market failure associated with free-rider effects, sub-optimal spreading of fixed costs and heterogeneity of trial information with multiple trials.

Determining business models for financial sustainability in regional health information organizations: a literature review

While the promise and enthusiasm for regional health information organizations (RHIOs) are immense, a significant issue regarding this type of health information exchange, (HIE) remains unclear: financial sustainability. As of today, there is a clear lack of concrete business models implemented in RHIOs' projects. The purpose of this study is to conduct a literature review of the current state of RHIOs adaptation and implementation of business models for successful financial sustainability, as well as evaluate existing RHIOs financial situation to determine and recommend best models for economic uphold. This literature review will be the starting point for thorough analysis and understanding of the economic factors required for RHIOs to generate a return on investment (ROI) and become self-sustainable.

Rural RHIOs: common issues in the development of two state-wide health information networks

Over one hundred Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) are under development in the United States. Many of these will fail but many will become a vital part of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).

METHODS

Documentation was reviewed and summarized and a core group of Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL, Inc.) were interviewed to ascertained lessons learned in the development of Vermont's RHIO.

RESULTS

Issues were grouped into five major categories: early planning, organization, education and marketing, technology, and financial sustainability.

CONCLUSION

There are a number of commonalities about all RHIOs but also a number of differences predicated on location. RHIOs must remain dynamic and learn from others in order to survive.

Pharmaceuticals and the strategic national stockpile program

This article discusses current stockpile practices after exploring a history of the use of biologic agents as weapons, the preventive measures that the federal government has used in the past, and the establishment of a Strategic National Stockpile Program in 2003. The article also describes the additional medical supplies from the managed inventory and the federal medical stations. The issues (financial burden, personnel, and materiel selection) for local asset development are also discussed. Critical is the cost to local communities of the development and maintenance of a therapeutic agent stockpile and the need for personnel to staff clinics and medical stations. Finally, the important role of the dental profession for dispensing medication and providing mass immunization in the event of a disaster is described.

Regional palliative care program in Extremadura: an effective public health care model in a sparsely populated region

The Regional Palliative Care Program in Extremadura (RPCPEx) was created and fully integrated into the Public Health Care System in 2002. The local health care authorities of Extremadura (a large sparsely populated region in the west of Spain with 1,083,897 inhabitants) decided to guarantee palliative care as a basic right, offering maximum coverage, availability, and equity, functioning at all levels of assistance and based on the complexity of the case. The program provides full coverage of the region through a network of eight Palliative Care Teams under the direction of a regional coordinator. The mobile teams work in acute hospitals and in the community. This paper describes the program, using qualitative and quantitative indicators of structure, process, and outcome. Qualitative indicators assess, among others, the performance of the regional network, including the outcomes of the quality, training, registry, treatment, and research groups. Quantitative indicators applied consisted of the number of professionals (1/26,436 inhabitants), number of patients (1,635/million inhabitants/year), number of activities/million inhabitants/year (6,183 hospital and 3,869 home visits; 1,863 consultations; 14,748 advising services; 11,539 coordination meetings; and 483 educational meetings), cost of care (2,242,000 Euros per year), and opioid consumption (494,654 daily defined doses/year). Four years after the planning process and three years after becoming operational, the RPCPEx offers an effective and efficient model integrated into the public health care system and is able to offer comprehensive coverage, availability, equity and networking among all the structures and levels of the program. Several structural and organizational tools were developed, which may be adopted by other programs within the scope of public health. The provision of palliative care should not be conditioned by the patient's geographical location, his or her condition or disease or on the ability to pay, but on need alone. This model has successfully implemented palliative care in a region that offered many challenges, including limited resources and a disperse population in a geographically extensive region. These variables are also common in many rural areas in developing countries and the regional palliative care program offers a flexible approach that can be adapted to the needs and resources in different settings and countries in the world.

Reorganization of secondary medical care in the Israeli Defense Forces Medical Corps: A cost-effect analysis

OBJECTIVE

To increase accessibility and availability of secondary medical care, 10 secondary unit specialist clinics were established side-by-side with five existing regional specialist centers, thus achieving decentralization. The purpose was to analyze the impact of this reorganization on overall consumption of secondary medical care and expenditures.

METHODS

Consumption of secondary medical care was analyzed by using computerized clinic and Medical Corps databases. Functional efficiency and budgetary expenditures were evaluated in four representative unit specialist clinics.

RESULTS

The reorganization resulted in an 8% increase in total secondary care consumption over 2.5 years. The establishment of unit specialist clinics did not achieve increased accessibility or availability for military personnel. Functional analysis of representative unit specialist clinics showed diversity in efficiency, differences in physicians' performance, and excess expenditures.

CONCLUSION

The decentralizing reorganization of secondary medical care generated an increase in medical care consumption, possibly because of supply-induced demand. The uniform inefficiency of the unit specialist clinics might have been related to incorrect planning and management. The decentralization of secondary medical care within the Israeli Defense Forces has not proved to be cost-efficient.

Small Rural Hospitals and High-Risk Operations: How Would Regionalization Affect Surgical Volume and Hospital Revenue?

BACKGROUND

Because higher hospital procedure volume is associated with better outcomes for many high-risk procedures, regionalization to higher-volume hospitals has been proposed as a way to improve quality of surgical care. The potential impact of such policies on small rural hospital volume and revenue is unknown.

STUDY DESIGN

We identified all hospitalizations in small rural hospitals (less than 50 beds) in New York State from 1998 to 2001 that included an ICD-9 procedure code for 1 of 9 procedures for which there is a documented volume-outcomes association: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic-valve replacement, carotid endarterectomy, colectomy, coronary artery bypass, cystectomy, esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, or pulmonary resection. Revenue from these procedures was estimated using gross charges and payor-specific reimbursement rates. We then compared these estimates with total hospital inpatient revenue for each rural hospital.

RESULTS

We identified 14 small rural hospitals where at least one of the nine procedures was performed. All included hospitalizations for colectomy. Aortic aneurysm repairs, cystectomies, and pancreatectomies were performed in three hospitals; carotid endarterectomy in two; and esophagectomy in one. In no hospitals were cardiac procedures or pulmonary resections performed. Estimated average contribution to hospital net revenue for all 9 procedures was approximately 2%, nearly all attributable to colectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

If all aortic aneurysm repairs, major cardiothoracic procedures, carotid endarterectomies, cystectomies, and pancreatectomies in New York State were regionalized to higher-volume hospitals, no small rural hospitals would experience substantial impact in terms of rural hospital procedure volume and revenue. Even regionalization of colectomy would have a small impact on inpatient volume and revenue.

[National health resources for highly specialised medicine]

BACKGROUND

In order to monitor quality and efficiency in the use of health resources for highly specialised medicine, a National Professional Council has since 1990 advised the Norwegian health authorities on the establishing and localisation of such services.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

A comprehensive review of both the quality, economy and the geographical distribution of patients in each specialised service has been carried out.

RESULTS

33 defined national programmes were centralised to one hospital only and distributed among seven university hospitals. Eight multiregional programmes were centralised to two hospitals only and included four university hospitals. In 2001, a total of 2711 new patients were treated in these programmes. The system seems to have secured a sufficient patient flow to each programme so as to maintain quality. However, a geographically skewed distribution of patients was noted, particularly in some of the national programmes.

INTERPRETATION

In a small country like Norway, with 4.5 million inhabitants, a centralised monitoring of highly specialised medicine seems both rational and successful. By the same logic, however, international cooperation should probably be sought for the smallest patient groups.

Das Regionale Psychiatriebudget: Ein neuer Ansatz zur effizienten Verknüpfung stationärer und ambulanter Versorgungsleistungen

OBJECTIVE

Due to increasing health care expenditures the discussion about advantages and disadvantages of new methods for resource allocation in mental health care has been intensified. A promising model is the Regional Budget for Mental Health Care, which is currently being examined in Schleswig-Holstein. The present paper describes first experiences with the new resource allocation model. BASIC CONDITIONS: An annual budget, provided for the treatment of a fixed number of patients, makes it possible to reduce inpatient capacity in favour of improved community-integrated approaches for the treatment of acute psychiatric illness.

RESULTS

In a first step inpatient capacity will be reduced by 8 percent. By the end of 2007 capacity for hospital day care shall be increased by 87 percent and a home treatment will be implemented. The previous working method, orientated to treatment setting, will be replaced by an approach specialized in diagnostic groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The Regional Budget could improve the continuity and flexibility of patient care. Service providers become motivated to treat in a way, which with little resource consumption achieves a long lasting health status improvement. For health insurances the Regional Budget is an opportunity to limit cost increases.

Tennessee trauma care system plan, Part II

Tennessee implemented a statewide trauma care system in 1988. This system serves the state of Tennessee and supports eight neighboring states. The demographics and geography of Tennessee have ensured that nearly all residents have rapid access to the trauma care system. However, since 1988, many changes have occurred in healthcare in general, and trauma care in particular, that point out problems and issues with the Tennessee trauma care system. Therefore, the Tennessee Trauma Care Advisory Council has developed this Trauma Care System Plan to look at needs and opportunities for the future of trauma care in Tennessee. This plan will be presented in four segments: History, Administrative Components, Operational Components, and Clinical Components.

The Pittsburgh Poison Center profile of an American poison information center

The Pittsburgh Poison Center (PPC), a department of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, was established in 1971 to provide emergency poison information to the residents of western Pennsylvania, especially the children. The PPC provides comprehensive poison information center services to the lay public and to medical professionals, poison prevention education, professional education and specialized services to the business and industry sector and governmental agencies.

Modeling participation in the NHII: operations research approach

Regional health information organizations (RHIOs) form the core building blocks of any approach to creating the National Health Information Infrastructure. RHIOs are computer-supported information sharing alliances composed of health care institutions that need to exchange clinical, financial or administrative data. Many uncertainties, including institution conversion costs, price-to-participate, and RHIO governance decisions make estimating the cost consequences difficult to establish. Current approaches to health information technology investment rely on a net-present-value analysis, which is inadequate to capture the dynamic, uncertain course likely to occur in the RHIO environment. Methods from operations research provide decision makers robust tools for exploring the cost and consequences of RHIO structures. We present here an initial modeling approach that allows explicit examination of RHIO structure and pricing options. Once refined, these models will provide the core of a suite of decision support tools for evaluation of RHIO pricing options, discount rates, and optimal organizational structures.

An extra dollar can go a long way

Small amounts of money can have a powerful effect when properly targeted, a health project in Tanzania has shown

County hospitals and regional medical care in Texas: an analysis of out-of-county costs

The current system of regional medical service delivery in Texas places large demands on the state's urban public hospitals. To assess the nature and scope of such demands, we examined financial data from five of the state's largest public hospital districts. During fiscal year 2002, these hospitals reported 103,381 encounters with out-of-county patients, resulting in 66 million dollars in unreimbursed costs. Given the current economic outlook, Texas requires a more effective regional model that centralizes tertiary care, disperses primary and secondary care, and preserves key public health goods.

The potential impact on costs and staffing of introducing clinical networks and British Association of Perinatal Medicine standards to the delivery of neonatal care

OBJECTIVE

To produce models to estimate the impact of introducing clinical networks and the 2001 BAPM standards to the delivery of neonatal care.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study using a geographically defined population and data collected by questionnaire on staffing levels and cot availability.

SETTING

Trent Health Region UK.

SUBJECTS

All infants born to Trent resident mothers at or before 32 weeks gestation between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 1999. Staffing numbers and cot availability for neonatal care in 2001.

METHODS

A modelling exercise was carried out using information for all neonatal admissions for Trent resident infants. Three models were investigated: (a). the current care provision; (b). a network where three lead centres provided the intensive care for the region and the remaining units provided either high dependency or special care alone; (c). a network where six lead centres provided the intensive care for the region and the remaining units provided either high dependency or special care alone. Overall costings, staffing levels, and cot requirements were calculated for each model. Data on staffing levels and cot availability were used to calculate current care provision costings.

RESULTS

The current cost of running the service is approximately pound 33.35 million, although a proportion of nursing posts are currently unfilled. Estimates for the introduction of a three centre model meeting BAPM 2001 standards range from pound 37.31 to pound 43.40 million. Equivalent figures for the six centre model were: pound 36.32 to pound 42.62 million. Approximately 370 and 230 babies a year would be involved in transfer in the three and six centre models respectively. This is in contrast with 374 and 368 urgent transfers that actually took place in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

CONCLUSION

The costs associated with the introduction of managed clinical networks and meeting BAPM standards of care are not excessive, especially when considered against the likely implementation timetable of perhaps 7-10 years. Attracting and retaining sufficient staff will pose the major challenge.

Cost-effectiveness of USAID's regional program for family planning in West Africa

Between 1994 and 1996, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) closed 23 country missions worldwide, of which eight were in West and Central Africa. To preserve United States support for family planning and reproductive health in four countries in that region, USAID created a subregional program through a consortium of US-based groups that hired mainly African managers and African organizations. This study assesses cost-effectiveness of the program through an interrupted time-series design spanning the 1990s and compares cost-effectiveness in four similar countries in which mission-based programs continued. Key indicators include costs, contraceptive prevalence rates, and imputed "women-years of protection." The study found that, taking into account all external financing for population and family planning, the USAID West Africa regional approach generated women-years of protection at one-third the cost of the mission-based programs. This regional approach delivered family planning assistance in West Africa cost-effectively, and the findings suggest that regional models may work well for many health and population services in small countries.