Predictive Risk Models which utilize routinely collected data to develop algorithms are used in England to stratify patients according to their hospital admission risk. An individual’s risk score can be used as a basis to select patients for hospital avoidance programmes. This paper presents a...

Switching from brand to generic lamotrigine is largely devoid of adverse health outcomes; however, creating an incentive to ensure a greater proportion of patients switch to generic lamotrigine is required to achieve maximal financial savings from a policy of generic reference pricing. </AbstractSection>...

Does the way in which health systems are financed influence whether health policymakers are more or less interested in accessible and equitable health services? Are social democratic governments more interested in primary health care reform than conservative governments? Have particular domains...

In this paper we compare the experiences of seven industrialized countries in considering approval and introduction of the world's first cervical cancer-preventing vaccine. Based on case studies, articles from public agencies, professional journals and newspapers we analyse the public debate...

The separation of purchaser and provider in government-funded health systems enables competition to develop between providers. Competition is seen as a means to drive technical efficiencies by providers. While it is difficult to assess comprehensively the level of competition in a market taking...