Medical Care Output And Productivity

With the United States and other developed nations spending as much as 14 percent of their GDP on medical care, economists and policy analysts are asking what these countries are getting in return. Yet it remains frustrating and difficult to measure the productivity of the medical care service industries. This volume takes aim at that problem, while taking stock of where we are in our attempts to solve it. Much of this analysis focuses on the capacity to measure the value of technological change and other health care innovations. A key finding suggests that growth in health care spending has coincided with an increase in products and services that together reduce mortality rates and promote additional health gains. Concerns over the apparent increase in unit prices of medical care may thus understate positive impacts on consumer welfare. When appropriately adjusted for such quality improvements, health care prices may actually have fallen. Provocative and compelling, this volume not only clarifies one of the more nebulous issues in health care analysis, but in so doing addresses an area of pressing public policy concern.

With the United States and other developed nations spending as much as 14 percent of their GDP on medical care, economists and policy analysts are asking what these countries are getting in return. Yet it remains frustrating and difficult to measure the productivity of the medical care service industries. This volume takes aim at that problem, while taking stock of where we are in our attempts to solve it. Much of this analysis focuses on the capacity to measure the value of technological change and other health care innovations. A key finding suggests that growth in health care spending has coincided with an increase in products and services that together reduce mortality rates and promote additional health gains. Concerns over the apparent increase in unit prices of medical care may thus understate positive impacts on consumer welfare. When appropriately adjusted for such quality improvements, health care prices may actually have fallen. Provocative and compelling, this volume not only clarifies one of the more nebulous issues in health care analysis, but in so doing addresses an area of pressing public policy concern.

Presents health and productivity research that suggests interventions aimed at prevention, early detection, and best-practice treatment of workers with promising cost-benefits for employers. Covers approaches to studying effects of health on productivity, ways for employers to estimate productivity loss, suggestions for future research, and implications for public policy.

Monograph comprising an economic analysis of policies concerning health services and medical personnel in the USA - reviews developments in such policies and alternative proposals to increase the productivity of medical personnel, analyses health care production in private sector medical practice, and suggests policies aimed at more efficient use of human resources. Bibliography pp. 293 to 307, diagrams, graphs, references and statistical tables.

First Published in 1988, this book offers a full, comprehensive guide to improving and streamlining productivity in health care. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, diagrams, and references this book serves as a useful reference for students of medicine, student nurses, and other practitioners in their respective fields.

Economic Analysis in Health Care, Second Edition is intended as a core textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of health economics. The authors provide comprehensive coverage of the field of economics in health care and the evaluation of health care technologies. This new edition has been fully updated with up-to-date case studies from the UK, Europe and the Rest of the World. It includes a new chapter on health care labour markets and contains new material integrated throughout the text on the economics of public health. Adopts an international perspective towards topics in health economics Creates a useful balance of theoretical treatment and practical application throughout the book Focuses on both market-related and economic evaluation aspects of health economics.

The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics provides an accessible and authoritative guide to health economics, intended for scholars and students in the field, as well as those in adjacent disciplines including health policy and clinical medicine. The chapters stress the direct impact of health economics reasoning on policy and practice, offering readers an introduction to the potential reach of the discipline. Contributions come from internationally-recognized leaders in health economics and reflect the worldwide reach of the discipline. Authoritative, but non-technical, the chapters place great emphasis on the connections between theory and policy-making, and develop the contributions of health economics to problems arising in a variety of institutional contexts, from primary care to the operations of health insurers. The volume addresses policy concerns relevant to health systems in both developed and developing countries. It takes a broad perspective, with relevance to systems with single or multi-payer health insurance arrangements, and to those relying predominantly on user charges; contributions are also included that focus both on medical care and on non-medical factors that affect health. Each chapter provides a succinct summary of the current state of economic thinking in a given area, as well as the author's unique perspective on issues that remain open to debate. The volume presents a view of health economics as a vibrant and continually advancing field, highlighting ongoing challenges and pointing to new directions for further progress.

In this book the authors explore the state of the art on efficiency measurement in health systems and international experts offer insights into the pitfalls and potential associated with various measurement techniques. The authors show that: - The core idea of efficiency is easy to understand in principle - maximizing valued outputs relative to inputs, but is often difficult to make operational in real-life situations - There have been numerous advances in data collection and availability, as well as innovative methodological approaches that give valuable insights into how efficiently health care is delivered - Our simple analytical framework can facilitate the development and interpretation of efficiency indicators.