The reformulation of existing boundaries between primary and secondary care, in order to shift selected services traditionally provided by Emergency Departments to community-based alternatives has determined a variety of organisational solutions aimed at reducing the ED overcrowding. One...

The demand for primary care services is expected to increase at a time of persistent shortages of primary care physicians (PCPs) in the U.S. A proposed solution is to expand the role of other allied health professions. This study examines the effects of visits to nurse practitioners (NPs) on the...

Context: This article explores the relative impact of marketing information and FDA regulatory actions in the market for prescription drugs. We examine how direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) and FDA issued precautions and boxed warnings together affect young patients' visits with physicians...

We study capacity rationing by servers facing differentiated customer classes using data from the Veterans Health Administration, which is the largest integrated healthcare system in the US. Using over 11 million health encounters over two years in which the system was capacity constrained, our...

Technologies that enable ``e-visits'' -- remote interactions between patients and physicians -- are touted as a way to improve and expand primary care. We study a setting in which a physician can divert some of the patient demand away from the office visits and into the e-visits, which utilize...

This article examines how the Government third way is being implemented in relation to the involvement of primary care professionals in the commissioning of health services. Prior to 1997, the single preferred model of GP fundholding evolved into a diversity of approaches to commissioning and...

Honduras has recently contracted-out the provision of primary health care services to decentralized providers in order to expand health care coverage in rural areas. This paper evaluates the impact of contracting-out on health outputs and outcomes related to access, quality, and equity in health...

The introduction of choice in public services, and in health services more specifically, is part of a wider movement to introduce consumerism in health care. In this article, we analyze how citizens perceive the availability of choice of primary care doctors in 22 European countries, and what...

The World Health Assembly adapted resolution 29.74 requesting WHO to develop a programme of health technology relating to primary health care and rural development as part of the overall primary health care programme (WHA, 1976). This resolution urged member-states to give due attention to the...