The authors consider the association between productive efficiency and clinical quality in institutional long-term care for the elderly. Cross-sectional data were collected from 122 wards in health-centre hospitals and residential homes in Finland in 2001. Productive efficiency was measured in...

The purpose of this chapter is to review dental economics in three major areas: (i) demand for and utilisation of dental care, (ii) productivity, technical efficiency and economies of scale in dental care production, and finally (iii) economic evaluation of dental care procedures and programmes....

The present paper evaluates the quantitative impact of a pharmaceutical reform on pharmaceutical prices. A generic substitution policy was introduced in Finland in 2003 to contain rising pharmaceutical expenditure. After the reform pharmacists were obliged to propose a cheaper alternative to a...

This article studies the pricing and advertising of prescription drugs in a duopoly market. If advertising is banned, decisions of the prescribing physician are price-sensitive. The emerging market equilibrium is characterized by marginal-cost pricing and normal profits. The introduction of...

New technological applications are usually expected to increase the health care costs. But they can also spawn cost savings in the long run, for example, when making time-consuming diagnostic methods more efficient and facilitating targeted therapy. This study analyses how the implementation of...