Articles

Benefit assessment in Germany: implications for price discounts

The AMNOG regulation, introduced in 2011 in Germany, changed the game for new drugs. Now, the industry is required to submit a dossier to the GBA (the central decision body in the German sickness fund system) ...

Authors: Ulrike Theidel and J-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg

Patient preferences in allergy immunotherapy (AIT) in Germany – a discrete-choice-experiment

Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is a common disorder in Europe with Allergic Asthma (AA) as a frequent comorbidity. Allergy immunotherapy (AIT) is the only causal therapy of AR and AA, and can be administered as subcut...

Authors: Kathrin Damm, Janina Volk, Andreas Horn, Jean-Pierre Allam, Ninette Troensegaard-Petersen, Niels Serup-Hansen, Thomas Winkler, Ivonne Thiessen, Kathrin Borchert, Eike G. Wüstenberg and Thomas Mittendorf

What, who and when? Incorporating a discrete choice experiment into an economic evaluation

Economic evaluation focuses on Quality-Adjusted-Life-Years (QALYs) as the main valuation method. However, it is well known that factors beyond health related quality of life are important to patients and the p...

Authors: Michela Tinelli, Mandy Ryan and Christine Bond

Does performance-based financing increase value for money in low- and middle- income countries? A systematic review

Governments of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are widely implementing performance-based financing (PBF) to improve healthcare services. However, it is unclear whether PBF provides good value for mone...

Authors: Anne-Marie Turcotte-Tremblay, Jessica Spagnolo, Manuela De Allegri and Valéry Ridde

The abolition of user charges and the demand for ambulatory visits: evidence from the Czech Republic

This paper estimates the effect of the abolition of user charges for children’s outpatient care (30 CZK/1.2 EUR) in 2009 on the demand for ambulatory doctor visits in the Czech Republic. Because the reform app...

Authors: Jana Votapkova and Pavlina Zilova

Health system support and health system strengthening: two key facilitators to the implementation of ambulatory tuberculosis treatment in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan inherited a hospital-based health system from the Soviet Union. We explore the health system-related challenges faced during the scale-up of ambulatory (outpatient) treatment for drug-susceptible an...

Authors: Stefan Kohler, Damin Abdurakhimovich Asadov, Andreas Bründer, Sean Healy, Atadjan Karimovich Khamraev, Natalia Sergeeva and Peter Tinnemann

Quality of life and costs of spasticity treatment in German stroke patients

To gather data about the medical and non-medical health service in patients suffering from post-stroke spasticity of the upper limb and evaluate treatment effectiveness and tolerability as well as costs over t...

Authors: Reinhard Rychlik, Fabian Kreimendahl, Nicole Schnur, Judith Lambert-Baumann and Dirk Dressler

Comparison of charges and resource use associated with saxagliptin and sitagliptin

Saxagliptin and sitagliptin are two commonly used dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. Little is known about their comparative effectiveness in the real world, particularly their impact on cost and resou...

Authors: Varun Vaidya, Keyuri Adhikari, Jack Sheehan and Iftekhar Kalsekar

Opening the black box of under-health people: the case of Spain

The most famous modern definition of health was created during a Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization in 1946: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and...

Authors: Marta Pascual-Saez, David Cantarero-Prieto and Noelia González-Prieto

Health insurance subscription among women in reproductive age in Ghana: do socio-demographics matter?

Premised that health insurance schemes in Africa have only been introduced recently and continue evolving, various concerns have been raised regarding their effectiveness in improving utilisation of orthodox h...

Authors: Hubert Amu and Kwamena Sekyi Dickson

Regional inequalities in child malnutrition in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen: a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis

There is substantial evidence that on average, urban children have better health outcomes than rural children. This paper investigates the underlying factors that account for the regional disparities in child ...

Authors: Mesbah Fathy Sharaf and Ahmed Shoukry Rashad

Efficiency of Ontario primary care physicians across payment models: a stochastic frontier analysis

The study examines the relationship between the primary care model that a physician belongs to and the efficiency of the primary care physician in Ontario, Canada.

Authors: Maude Laberge, Walter P. Wodchis, Jan Barnsley and Audrey Laporte

Regional differences of standardised mortality rates for ischemic heart diseases in the Slovak Republic for the period 1996–2013 in the context of income inequality

The aim of paper is to analyse the development of standardised mortality rates for ischemic heart diseases in relation to the income inequality in the regions of Slovakia. This paper assesses different types o...

Authors: Beáta Gavurová and Tatiana Vagašová

Erratum to: ‘A cost and performance comparison of Public Private Partnership and public hospitals in Spain’

Authors: Maria Caballer-Tarazona and David Vivas-Consuelo

Free health care for under-fives, expectant and recent mothers? Evaluating the impact of Sierra Leone’s free health care initiative

This study evaluates the impact of Sierra Leone’s 2010 Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI). It uses two nationally representative surveys to identify the impact of the policy on utilisation of maternal care ser...

Authors: Ijeoma Edoka, Tim Ensor, Barbara McPake, Rogers Amara, Fu-Min Tseng and Joseph Edem-Hotah

Patient- and person-reports on healthcare: preferences, outcomes, experiences, and satisfaction – an essay

With the shift towards patient-centered healthcare, patient- and person-reports of health-related factors, including outcomes, are seen as important determinants for evaluating and improving healthcare. Howeve...

Authors: K. Klose, S. Kreimeier, U. Tangermann, I. Aumann and K. Damm

A cost and performance comparison of Public Private Partnership and public hospitals in Spain

Public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives are extending around the world, especially in Europe, as an innovation to traditional public health systems, with the intention of making them more efficient.

Authors: Maria Caballer-Tarazona and David Vivas-Consuelo

Where did civil servants go? the effect of an increase in public co-payments on double insured patients

In Portugal, Civil Servants may have a differential utilization of health services due to their supplementary Health Subsystem (ADSE), which grants them access to health services in the private sector at lower...

Authors: Sofia Vaz and Pedro Ramos

Reablement in community-dwelling older adults: a cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a randomized controlled trial

In the face of a growing number of older adults in the population, policy-makers in high-income countries are seeking new ways to reduce the expected growth in long-term care expenditure. Research shows that d...

Authors: Egil Kjerstad and Hanne Kristin Tuntland

Measuring quality of life in opioid-induced constipation: mapping EQ-5D-3 L and PAC-QOL

In health economic evaluations, quality of life should be measured with preference-based utilities, such as the EuroQol 5 Dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3 L). Non-preference-based instruments (often disease-specific...

Authors: Anthony James Hatswell and Stefan Vegter

Factors influencing the variation in GMS prescribing expenditure in Ireland

Pharmaceutical expenditure growth is a familiar feature in many Western health systems and is a real concern for policymakers. A state funded General Medical Services (GMS) scheme in Ireland experienced an inc...

Authors: A. ConwayLenihan, S. Ahern, S. Moore, J. Cronin and N. Woods

How did medicaid expansions affect labor supply and welfare enrollment? Evidence from the early 2000s

In the early 2000s, Arizona, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Vermont expanded Medicaid to cover more low-income individuals, primarily childless adults. This change provides the researcher with an opp...

Authors: Cagdas Agirdas

Using morbidity and income data to forecast the variation of growth and employment in the oral healthcare sector

The perception of the health sector from an economic policy point of view is changing. In the past, health expenditure was mostly seen as a “cost” item, probably because many medical treatments are covered by ...

Authors: Dennis A. Ostwald and David Klingenberger

Out-of-pocket expenditure by private households for dental services – empirical evidence from Austria

Dental services differ from other health services in several dimensions. One important difference is that a substantial share of costs of dental services–especially costs beyond routine dental treatment–is pai...

Authors: Alice Sanwald and Engelbert Theurl

Socioeconomic determinants of use of reproductive health services in Ghana

The study examines trends in the consumption of reproductive health services (use of modern contraceptives, health facility deliveries, assisted deliveries, first trimester antenatal visit and 4+ antenatal vis...

Authors: Gordon Abekah-Nkrumah and Patience Aseweh Abor

The determinants of the propensity to receive publicly funded home care services for the elderly in Canada: a panel two-stage residual inclusion approach

The role of Home Care (HC) services for the elderly will be increasingly important in meeting populations’ future needs for care. HC services include Home Health Care (HHC) and Homemaking/Personal Support (HMP...

Authors: Gustavo Mery, Walter P. Wodchis and Audrey Laporte

Extending health insurance in Ghana: effects of the National Health Insurance Scheme on maternity care

There is considerable interest in exploring the potential of social health insurance in Africa where a number of countries are currently experimenting with different approaches. Since these schemes have been i...

Authors: Agar Brugiavini and Noemi Pace

Reply to the critics on “binge drinking and alcohol prices”

Authors: Jon P. Nelson

Experimental measurement of preferences in health care using best-worst scaling (BWS): theoretical and statistical issues

For optimal solutions in health care, decision makers inevitably must evaluate trade-offs, which call for multi-attribute valuation methods. Researchers have proposed using best-worst scaling (BWS) methods whi...

Authors: Axel C. Mühlbacher, Peter Zweifel, Anika Kaczynski and F. Reed Johnson

Comment on “binge drinking and alcohol prices”

Authors: Ziming Xuan, Thomas F. Babor, Timothy S. Naimi, Jason G. Blanchette and Frank J. Chaloupka

Social interactions, trust and risky alcohol consumption

The association of social capital and alcohol consumption is one of the most robust empirical findings in health economics of the past decade. However, the direction of the relationship between the two is heav...

Authors: Abdu Kedir Seid

Experimental measurement of preferences in health and healthcare using best-worst scaling: an overview

Best-worst scaling (BWS), also known as maximum-difference scaling, is a multiattribute approach to measuring preferences. BWS aims at the analysis of preferences regarding a set of attributes, their levels or...

Authors: Axel C. Mühlbacher, Anika Kaczynski, Peter Zweifel and F. Reed Johnson

Erratum to: ‘Costs of treating cardiovascular events in Germany: a systematic literature review’

Authors: Tamara Schmid, Weiwei Xu, Shravanthi R. Gandra and Galin V. Michailov

Costs and treatment patterns of incident ADHD patients - a comparative analysis before and after the initial diagnosis -

The costs and treatment patterns of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are subjects of health services research in Germany and worldwide. Previous publications focused mainly on prevalent patients...

Authors: Mike Klora, Jan Zeidler, Roland Linder, Frank Verheyen and J.-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg

A literature review of the regional implementation of the central Swedish government’s health care reforms on choice and privatization

The introduction in 2010 of the Freedom of Choice Act represents one of the most far-reaching reforms of the Swedish health system. While it is mandatory for the regional counties to introduce choice plans for...

Authors: Björn Ekman and Jens Wilkens

The impact of agglomeration economies on hospital input prices

This paper examines the extent to which agglomeration of the hospital service industry enhances the productivity of producing health care. Specifically, we use a large set of private insurance claims from the ...

Authors: Andrew I. Friedson and Jing Li

Food environment and childhood obesity: the effect of dollar stores

In this paper we examine the effect of dollar stores on children’s Body Mass Index (BMI). We use a dataset compiled by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement that reflects a BMI screening program for publi...

Authors: Andreas C. Drichoutis, Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., Heather L. Rouse and Michael R. Thomsen

Competition between health maintenance organizations and nonintegrated health insurance companies in health insurance markets

This article examines a model of competition between two types of health insurer: Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and nonintegrated insurers. HMOs vertically integrate health care providers and pay the...

Authors: Edmond Baranes and David Bardey

Quality assessment of economic evaluations of health promotion programs for children and adolescents—a systematic review using the example of physical activity

An increasing number of primary prevention programs aimed at promoting physical exercise in children and adolescents are being piloted. As resources are limited, it is important to ascertain the costs and bene...

Authors: Katharina Korber

Socioeconomic-related inequalities in child malnutrition: evidence from the Ghana multiple indicator cluster survey

Malnutrition is a prevalent public health concern in Ghana. While studies have identified factors that influence child malnutrition and related inequalities in Ghana, very little efforts have been made to deco...

Authors: Jacob Novignon, Emmanuel Aboagye, Otuo Serebour Agyemang and Genevieve Aryeetey

Consumer response to media information: the case of grapefruit-medicine interaction

This study measured the effect of media exposure on grapefruit/grapefruit juice consumption changes, in particular grapefruit-medicine interaction. Respondents’ attitudes about health news on television and th...

Authors: Hyeyoung Kim, Lisa A. House and Matthew Salois

Breast and cervical cancer screening in Great Britain: Dynamic interrelated processes

No previous analysis has investigated the determinants of screening uptake for breast and cervical cancer screening for possible spillover effects from one type of screening examination to the other type of sc...

Authors: Alexander Labeit and Frank Peinemann

In-office magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment ownership and MRI volume among medicare patients in orthopedic practices

Concerns have been raised about physician ownership of onsite advanced imaging equipment as allowed under Stark laws by the in-office ancillary service exception (IOASE).

Authors: Robert L. Ohsfeldt, Pengxiang Li and John E. Schneider

Cost analysis of glatiramer acetate versus interferon-β for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in patients with spasticity: the Escala study

The Escala Study evidenced that the administration of glatiramer acetate for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis improved the spasticity of patients previously treated with interferon-β. However, whether su...

Authors: Rainel Sánchez-de la Rosa, Laura García-Bujalance and José Meca-Lallana

Regional differences in health care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in Germany

The regional availability of specialized physicians is an important aspect in healthcare of patients with IBD. The association between physician density and healthcare is not yet clear. Most studies did not co...

Authors: Ansgar Lange, Anne Prenzler, Oliver Bachmann, Roland Linder, Sarah Neubauer, Jan Zeidler, Michael P. Manns and J.-Matthias von der Schulenburg

Cost of dialysis in Tanzania: evidence from the provider’s perspective

Although End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is a disease of increasing epidemiological relevance very little is known about the cost of providing the respective dialysis services in Tanzania. This paper estimates ...

Authors: Lawrencia Mushi, Markus Krohn and Steffen Flessa

Costs of treating cardiovascular events in Germany: a systematic literature review

This study aims to systematically evaluate available evidence regarding direct medical costs of treating cardiovascular (CV) events in Germany after 2003 on an individual patient basis and from a payer perspec...

Authors: Tamara Schmid

Health service availability and health seeking behaviour in resource poor settings: evidence from Mozambique

Low-income countries are plagued by a high burden of preventable and curable disease as well as unmet need for healthcare, but detailed microeconomic evidence on the relationship between supply-side factors an...

Authors: Laura Anselmi, Mylène Lagarde and Kara Hanson

Waiting time distribution in public health care: empirics and theory

Excessive waiting times for elective surgery have been a long-standing concern in many national healthcare systems in the OECD. How do the hospital admission patterns that generate waiting lists affect differe...

Authors: Sofia Dimakou, Ourania Dimakou and Henrique S. Basso

Would you test for 5000 Shillings? HIV risk and willingness to accept HIV testing in Tanzania

Despite substantial public health efforts to increase HIV testing, testing rates have plateaued in many countries and rates of repeat testing for those with ongoing risk are low. To inform policies aimed at in...

Authors: Jan Ostermann, Derek S. Brown, Axel Mühlbacher, Bernard Njau and Nathan Thielman