In this paper we outline a formal and comprehensive analytic framework in which income transfers - the principal effects of user charges - can be traced between groups in the population, between payers and health care providers, and among providers.

Background: Across the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), pay-for-performance (P4P) programs have been implemented in the inpatient sector to improve the quality of care provided by hospitals. However, little is known about whether such...

Despite improvements over the past few decades, Slovak health outcomes remains poor compared with most other OECD countries, even after controlling for differences in per capita income and other social, cultural and lifestyle factors. Disparities in access to care and health outcomes between the...

Several studies of health system responsiveness focus on the demand-side by investigating the association between socio-demographic characteristics of patients and their reported level of responsiveness. However, little is known about the influence of supply-side factors. This paper addresses...

Background: Economic evaluation (EE) is a dynamically advancing knowledge area of health economics. It has been conceived to provide evidence for allocating scarce resources to gain the best value for money. The problem of efficiency of investments becomes even more crucial with advances in...

This paper compares health care systems. It looks beyond normal academic, political, or journalistic rhetoric, by exactly sticking to facts, i.e. empirical data (in particular data provided by the WHO) and comprehensive case study analyses. The paper finds that a number of myths and common...

In this essay we present three simple but powerful changes in our health care system that should be implemented as soon as possible – especially as these changes will drive numerous other beneficial changes. These three changes start with the acceptance of free market principles, and includes...

During these times, the resilience of humankind is put to the test by the ravages of COVID-19. Besides the virus, endemic corruption becomes pandemic since some individuals seek unethical gains and peril others' lives, engaging in corrupt, fraudulent behaviors. The East European countries have...

In efforts to decrease emergency department (ED) crowding and health care costs, frequent users of ED services have been targeted for interventions to decrease their utilization. Previous studies have had different definitions for frequent users and have considered all frequent users as a...