Approximately 100 million elderly will enter Medicare over the next 25 years. We consider the potential benefits of interventions that would reduce or eliminate the most important risk factors for disease and spending. Effective control of hypertension could reduce health care spending $890...

Medically intractable epilepsy (MIE) is a chronic disabling condition that primarily affects the young. Inadequately treated, it can produce life-long disability associated with high rates of social isolation, unemployment, depression, suicide and premature mortality. Recent advances in...

Telemedicine and disease management are relatively new concepts in healthcare delivery. Disease management focuses on the patient throughout the entire course of the disease, and aims to improve both the clinical outcomes for the patient and the overall cost effectiveness of the treatment...

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and is associated with the consumption of considerable health resources worldwide. Initial treatment of patients with CAP is often empirical. Growing concern about the increasing prevalence of atypical organisms is...

Precise estimates of the prevalence of chronic pain syndromes are difficult to ascertain. In the US, for example, there may be 30 million people with chronic or recurrent painful conditions. To date, there is still no one treatment that consistently and permanently alleviates chronic pain for...

The pandemic caused by HIV is one of the fastest growing health problems in the world today. Given the limited resources available to healthcare systems in many of the most heavily affected countries, it is crucially important to know the effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and acceptability of...

Introduction and objectives: To assess the cost effectiveness of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) based on the recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology and other societies for Hypercholesterolemia Management (ESCHM). Study design and perspective: A cluster-randomized,...

If a healthcare delivery system is to achieve quality and efficiency, participants must be able to measure quality and efficiency. Yet no healthcare system in the world - and certainly not the current US system, our main focus - measures, reports and acts on such a measure of productivity. This...

Background: The availability of long-acting injectable risperidone may increase adherence to antipsychotic treatment and lead to improved clinical and economic outcomes for patients with schizophrenia. Objectives: To investigate the cost effectiveness of treatment with long-acting injectable...

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy was traditionally applied in patients who survived a cardiac arrest or who experienced a symptomatic ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Its use in primary prevention (i.e. in patients who have yet to experience a serious arrhythmic...