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Drawing from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines, this innovative text is unlike any others of its kind. Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Fourth Edition analyzes current U.S. health policy and proposes various alternatives for developing future health policy without pushing a single solution set—rather, it considers the viewpoints of health economics, political science, health technology assessment, evaluation, and health services research. Expanded to cover the entire health policy cycle, the Fourth Edition is organized into five sections, beginning with an exploration of the current and historical issues with the U.S. healthcare system and consideration of the alternatives for future policy that have strong support. It then reviews the political processes that influence planning in various healthcare settings; presents the accepted methods of economic and financial analysis; and addresses the ethical and other value considerations that must factor into

This book explores how professionals and policymakers in mental and physical health care can use lessons from the COVID pandemic to better inform future public policy and treatment. Using the United States as a test case, Norbert Goldfield draws on his professional experience in healthcare and policy-making to explore how some societies have emerged from the pandemic with increasing internal conflicts. The author uses excerpts from his own COVID diary to revisit key stages in the response to the COVID pandemic to highlight where division has entered the publish health discourse, and to set out an alternative vision of how mental and physical health can be framed professionally and publicly. In addition to this account, Dr Goldfield details how our political system should change with respect to pandemics and how health professionals, together with the lay public, can help. Specifically, the book highlights the three critical issues confronting American pandemic fragility: increasing vaccinations, decreasing misinformation, and fostering greater linkages between our public and acute health systems. This book will be invaluable for all types of health care professionals, both in mental and physical health arenas, lay people interested in the pandemic, and for policymakers.

This highly respected annual guide will help hospital and health system leaders prepare themselves and their organizations for the future. An essential tool for strategic planning, Futurescan 2023 - 2028 presents articles highlighting the insights of thought leaders on eight key trends: • Care transformation • Workforce • Strategy • Health equity • Finance • Virtual health • Behavioral health • Emergency preparedness The expert perspectives featured in this latest edition of Futurescan on the transformation of health care are supported by data from a survey of hospital and health system leaders from across the country.

Medical experts on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic provide recommendations for governments, health agencies, and schools to prepare for the next outbreak.Another pandemic is coming. The type, severity, and spread are unknown, but governments, public health agencies, schools, and all other organizations must be prepared in order to minimize damage and save lives. We need to identify the lessons learned from our successes and failures during the COVID-19 pandemic to plan better for our future response.In Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak, David C. Pate, MD, JD, and Ted Epperly, MD, combine their decades of experience as doctors and health care leaders who have led their organizations through numerous public health challenges to create an extensive list of practical recommendations for a variety of organizations and agencies to better prepare for the next pandemic. They worked together in the fight against COVID-19 and the misinformation that devastated so many communities across the country. From the exam room to the public health board meeting room to the state capitol, Pate and Epperly use their expertise to craft 117 specific recommendations that organizations and governments can implement now in order to better prepare for the future. They divide these recommendations into checklists specific to different contexts: schools, hospitals, public health agencies, state governments, and the federal government. Public health officials, medical practitioners, state and local officials, school board members, disaster management leaders, and anyone with a stake in preparing their communities against future outbreaks will benefit from the recommendations Pate and Epperly outline.This is the first book to apply lessons learned in real time during a pandemic while chronicling which responses did and did not work and why. The authors examine the global, national, and local responses to COVID-19 and illustrate how we can learn from the mistakes of this pandemic so as not to repeat them during the next.

Surprise medical bills arise when a consumer covered by a health plan is unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider and is required to pay the difference between what the plan pays and the provider's charge. The issue of surprise bills, which can often expose a consumer to thousands of dollars of unforeseen medical costs, is widespread. In 2017, one in six Americans covered by an employer-sponsored plan received a surprise medical bill for out-of- network care despite having health insurance. One in ten elective hospital admissions and one in five admissions from emergency departments result in surprise bills.

This highly respected annual guide will help hospital and health system leaders prepare themselves and their organizations for the future. An essential tool for strategic planning, Futurescan 2022–2027 presents articles highlighting the insights of thought leaders on eight key trends: Care transformationWorkforceStrategyHealth equityFinanceVirtual healthBehavioral healthEmergency preparedness The expert perspectives featured in this latest edition of Futurescan on the transformation of health care are supported by data from a survey of hospital and health system leaders fr

This highly respected annual guide will help hospital and health system leaders prepare themselves and their organizations for the future. An essential tool for strategic planning, Futurescan 2021–2026 presents articles highlighting the insights of thought leaders on eight key trends and how they are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other forces of change in healthcare: Introduction: Transforming Health Care While Responding to a PandemicConsolidation: A Network Response to the COVID-19 PandemicSocial Determinants: Why Social Health Is as Important as Physical and Mental HealthSocietal Violence: Health Care Organizations'Role in Combating Societal ViolenceConsumerism: Navigating the New Age of Consumerism After COVID-19Finance: Value-Driven Outcomes: Where Quality Meets Cost EfficiencyCulture Change: Creating a Culture of Disruption, Change and Innovation Technology: Artificial Intelligence: Tools for Transforming CareInvestment: The Role of Private Equity in Health Car

Future healthcare leaders: Do you have an obligation to serve the common good? If your answer to this ethical question is yes, then you need a working knowledge of health policy. An understanding of how policy decisions are made gives healthcare leaders a knowledge base from which they can turn what once appeared to be limitations or obstacles into opportunities to facilitate better access to care, improve the quality of care, and more effectively manage costs. Leaders who have a firm grasp on the policymaking process can advocate for their patients, their organizations, and their communities. This revamped version of the classic textbook originally authored by Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., links policy concepts to practical applications and real healthcare outcomes. It covers formulation, implementation, and modification of health policymaking at both the federal and state levels, while giving readers insight into real-life political results and details of on-the-ground policy decisions. Highlights include: • A new chapter on federalism and the role of the states • Policy Snapshots at the beginning of each of the book's sections that offer brief, true stories of a significant policy event or an opportunity for students to envision their future selves as health advocates • A thoroughly revised and updated chapter on how the courts shape health policy • A rich array of new or updated examples drawn from actual policymaking events, in addition to new graphics and sidebars • Updated appendixes reorganized to provide easy access to examples germane to the topic at hand • An epilogue highlighting federal and state policy challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 Let author Michael R. Meacham guide you through health policy as a process. With a background in policy, law, healthcare leadership, and academia, he enables students to understand both the big picture and the small, but important, details.

Written with graduate students in mind, this balanced, cross-disciplinary text explores health policy from all directions -- theory, philosophy, ethics, history, economics, analysis, etc. -- for a complete and thorough examination of policy today. Its unique approach comprehensively explores the health policy process; looking at why we are here, how we got here, and what are the outcomes. Beginning with government, political philosophy and health policy, this comprehensive text moves before on to a thorough examination of international health comparisons, political theory and the policy process. The book concludes with health policy topical concerns, policy outcomes, and advocacy. Its broad cross-disciplinary approach to the health policy process makes this text an ideal, well-rounded resource for policy courses across the health professions.

Performance management can be an uncomfortable topic within the discipline of public health. Written by leaders in public health performance management and quality improvement, this book carefully explains what public health performance management is – and makes a strong case for why it is needed to tackle successfully the long-standing health issues plaguing communities and states. Notably, the book eschews the need to invest in technology or to learn a new performance management vocabulary. Rather the authors advocate for more thoughtful use of the resources already available in the organization, relying on public health leadership working in conjunction with well trained staff to manage their own organizational performance. To be broadly accepted within public health, performance management concepts and models have to be framed and populated with public health examples, and this book offers a wealth of practical insights and case studies that may be immediately applied to public health organizations, from assessing an organization's needs, introducing a performance management system to the organization, developing an agency's goals and targets, to implementation of sound performance management systems and plans. Collaborative Performance Management for Public Health is required reading for all public health leaders and employees concerned with maximizing the health impact of scarce resources.

The handbook presents a comprehensive analysis of the $3.5 trillion U.S. healthcare marketplace with the most recent statistics and data available. This is the #1 best-selling publication of its kind available from any source. Healthcare business and market data are scattered through a myriad of sources. The value of the handbook is that it compiles top-line data into a single easy-to-use reference, with information sourced from over 70 professional organizations, federal health agencies, top market analysts, and news sources. The handbook includes assessments and discussions on topics such as quality and patient safety, electronic health records, patient satisfaction, health plan ratings, Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drug use, top issues confronting hospitals, and more.

Long thought of as an idealistic but unrealistic proposition promoted by far-left activists, single-payer health care has become a major discussion point across the political landscape.Bernie Sanders made it a central focus of his insurgent 2016 run for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton. House Democrats'messaging on health care in the 2018 midterm elections, and the burgeoning campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, have elevated single-payer even further, bringing the issue to the center of American politics. Surprisingly, however, few books have examined the impact of a single-payer health care system in depth—and most of those that have done so come from a leftist perspective supporting this dramatic change. This vacuum in the current literature cries out for a work making the case against single payer—one which educates the American people about the damaging effects of this proposed health care takeover. Written for a broad audience ranging from interested citizens to leaders in the conservative movement, The Case Against Single Payer will explain the harmful implications of giving the federal government unfettered control of the health care system.

Drawing from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines, this innovative text is unlike any others of its kind. Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Third Edition analyzes current U.S. health policy and proposes various alternatives for developing future health policy without pushing a single solution set—rather, it considers the viewpoints of economics, political science, management, communications, technology, and public health.

Expanded to 552 pages and 145 chapters. The handbook presents a comprehensive analysis of the $3.2 trillion U.S. healthcare marketplace with the most recent statistics and data available. This is the #1 best-selling publication of its kind available from any source. Healthcare business and market data are scattered through a myriad of sources. The value of the handbook is that it compiles top-line data into a single easy-to-use reference, with information sourced from over 70 professional organizations, federal health agencies, top market analysts, and news sources. The handbook includes assessments and discussions on topics such as quality and patient safety, electronic health records, patient satisfaction, health plan ratings, Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drug use, top issues confronting hospitals, and more.

Provider-Led Population Health Management: Key Healthcare Strategies in the Cognitive Era, Second Edition draws connections among the new care-delivery models, the components of population health management, and the types of health IT that are required to support those components. The key concept that ties all of this together is that PHM requires a high degree of automation to reach everyone in a population, engage those patients in self-care, and maximize the chance that they will receive the proper preventive, chronic, and acute care. While this book is intended for healthcare executives and policy experts, anyone who is interested in health care can learn something from its exploration of the major issues that are stirring health care today. In the end, the momentous changes going on in health care will affect us all.

Instructor Resources: New test bank, PowerPoint slides, HAP Course Lesson Plans, answer guides to the chapter-end discussion questions, and a transition guide to the new edition. In the past decade, the nation experienced an unusually active period in health policy with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Historically, health policymaking has been a slow yet persistent evolution. The ACA, in spite of its magnitude, is an excellent example of the incremental evolution that characterizes policymaking in the United States. This book provides context and background for understanding the development of today's health reform legislation. In the new edition of this widely used book, Beaufort Longest provides a framework for understanding the formulation, implementation, and modification of health policymaking at both the federal and state levels. Students will learn how policymaking relates to decisions that affect healthcare providers and patients. They will also gain insight into how they can influence the policymaking process. Incorporated in the book are excerpts from congressional testimony, news stories, executive orders, legislation, and other documents related to real-world policy issues. Thoroughly updated and revised, this edition: Discusses the ACA extensively, with examples of both its formulation and its implementation Expands coverage of policymaking's implementation phase Provides a new chapter on the role of courts in health policy and policymaking Includes more than 30 appendices, many brand new to this edition, to illustrate the policymaking process

Healthcare Business Market Research Handbook 2015-2016 presents a comprehensive analysis of the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare marketplace with the most recent statistics and data available. Healthcare business and market data are scattered through a myriad of sources. The value of the handbook is that it compiles top-line data into a single easy-to-use reference, with information sourced from over 70 professional organizations, federal health agencies, top market analysts, and news sources. The handbook includes assessments and discussions on topics such as quality and patient safety, electronic health records, patient satisfaction, health plan ratings, Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drug use, top issues confronting hospitals, and more. Over 800 website links - directly embedded into the electronic edition - will direct you to additional market research and other resources.

Drawing from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines, this innovative text is unlike any others of its kind. Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Second Edition analyzes current U.S. health policy and proposes various alternatives for developing future health policy without pushing a single solution set—rather, it considers the viewpoints of economics, political science, management, communications, technology, and public health. Organized into three sections, this unique text first explores the current and historical issues with the U.S. healthcare system and considers the alternatives for future policy that have strong support. It then reviews the political processes that influence planning in various healthcare settings; presents the accepted methods of economic and financial analysis; and addresses the ethical and other value considerations that must enter into the health policy process. Finally, it takes a look at the roles, skills, and leadership that health professionals can bring to the policy making process in their local and national communities. The Second Edition offers: • An expansive new look at the Affordable Care Act woven throughout Chapters 1-5 • New chapter on evidence-based medicine. • Greater emphasis and focus on the learning health system as well as cost and outcomes, in light of the shrinking crisis of the uninsured. • All new cases in each chapter.

According to Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access, long waits for treatment are a function of the disjointed manner in which most health systems have evolved to accommodate the needs and the desires of doctors and administrators, rather than those of patients. The result is a health care system that deploys its most valuable resource—highly trained personnel—inefficiently, leading to an unnecessary imbalance between the demand for appointments and the supply of open appointments. This study makes the case that by using the techniques of systems engineering, new approaches to management, and increased patient and family involvement, the current health care system can move forward to one with greater focus on the preferences of patients to provide convenient, efficient, and excellent health care without the need for costly investment. Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access identifies best practices for making significant improvements in access and system-level change. This report makes recommendations for principles and practices to improve access by promoting efficient scheduling. This study will be a valuable resource for practitioners to progress toward a more patient-focused'How can we help you today?'culture.

New Perspectives in Healthcare: Impacts of Regulation, Organization, Reform and Change in the United States Health System is a new collection of topical articles that represent the very highest level of scholarship in health care management. A mixture of original research and thought leadership pieces combine to examine the changing landscape of the US healthcare system, looking at the impact of changing structures, legislation and policies over recent years. Covering key topics such as: - the 2010 Affordable Care Act;- the impacts of Medicare and Medicaid;- mandatory public reporting;- changes in technology including electronic personal health records; and - coping with an ageing population. This unique collection also considers the impacts of changes on all health sectors including primary care, hospital and acute settings and social care organizations. This book provides researchers, professionals, managers and policy makers with an easy-to-read summary of how the US healthcare system has evolved and provides food for thought on how to prepare for the challenges of the future.

Now in its second edition, Health Communication: From Theory to Practice provides a comprehensive introduction to theory, intervention design, current issues, and special topics in health communication. The book also represents a hands-on guide to program development, implementation, and evaluation. This second edition further emphasizes the importance of a people-centered and participatory approach to health communication interventions, which takes into account key social determinants of health as well as the interconnection of various health and social fields. While maintaining a strong focus on the importance of behavioral, social, and organizational results as key outcomes of health communication interventions, this second edition also includes new or updated information, theoretical models, resources, and case studies on: Health equity Urban health New media Emergency and risk communication Strategic partnerships in health communication Policy communication and public advocacy Cultural competence Health literacy The evaluation of health communication interventions To access a companion website with instructor resources (PowerPoint presentations for all chapters, sample assignments, and other resources), please visit www.wiley.com/go/schiavo2eThis title is also available as a mobile App from MedHand Mobile Libraries. Buy it now from iTunes, Google Play or the MedHand Store.

This is the first guide to achieving long-term impact and social change by employing critical strategies in the health and human services sector. It is based on lessons from a learning lab of 20 human services organizations and their chief strategy officers who, as part of the ìStrategy Countsî initiative, engineered significant improvements in their ability to adjust to change, reap the benefits of more data-driven decisions, innovate in ways that have meaningful impact, and establish fruitful partnerships with companies, communities, and government. The book is based on the findings of a long-term pilot projectóthe Alliance for Children and Families Strategy Counts initiativeówhich focused on enhancing the social impact of human services organizations by increasing their reliance on strategy and its effective deployment throughout the entire organization. Included among these findings are those tools and methods that have the greatest potential to help nonprofits effectively anticipate emerging market forces and adapt strategies accordingly. Replete with lessons learned and case studies, the book will inform a great variety of human services organizations in their quest to improve the lives of children, adults, and families.Key Features:Comprises the first guide to using critical strategies in human service organizations to achieve transformation and long-term social impact Designed to foster agility in adjusting to change, reliance on data-driven decisions, and successful partnerships with companies, communities, and governmentDescribes how the chief strategy officers from a learning lab of human services organizations used strategy to innovate, strengthen organizational culture, and effect meaningful changeBased on the findings of the Alliance for Children and Families Strategy Counts initiative

The Affordable Care Act places strong emphasis on quality of care as a means to improve outcomes for Americans and promote the financial sustainability of our health care system. This report attempts to help employers understand the structural differences between health plans and the performance dimensions along which plans can differ, as well as to educate employers about available tools that can be used to evaluate plan options.

Foreword by Harvey V. Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine For decades, experts have puzzled over why the US spends more on health care but suffers poorer outcomes than other industrialized nations. Now Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor marshal extensive research, including a comparative study of health care data from thirty countries, and get to the root of this paradox: We've left out of our tally the most impactful expenditures countries make to improve the health of their populations-investments in social services. In The American Health Care Paradox, Bradley and Taylor illuminate how narrow definitions of'health care,'archaic divisions in the distribution of health and social services, and our allergy to government programs combine to create needless suffering in individual lives, even as health care spending continues to soar. They show us how and why the US health care'system'developed as it did; examine the constraints on, and possibilities for, reform; and profile inspiring new initiatives from around the world. Offering a unique and clarifying perspective on the problems the Affordable Care Act won't solve, this book also points a new way forward.

Healthcare Business Market Research Handbook 2013-2014 presents a comprehensive analysis of the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare marketplace with the most recent statistics and data available. Healthcare business and market data are scattered through a myriad of sources. The value of the handbook is that it compiles top-line data into a single easy-to-use reference, with information sourced from over 70 professional organizations, federal health agencies, top market analysts, and news sources. The handbook includes assessments and discussions on topics such as quality and patient safety, electronic health records, patient satisfaction, health plan ratings, Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drug use, top issues confronting hospitals, and more. Over 800 website links - directly embedded into the electronic edition - will direct you to additional market research and other resources.

The Second Edition of “Uproot U.S. Healthcare” contains all the original text plus… extras. The book takes a combined medical and management approach to sick healthcare. At the request of several Universities, I added management and strategy tools; study aides; evidence or proofs; and other details that help teachers and students alike. “Uproot U.S. Healthcare” is a self-help guide to fixing our sick healthcare system. The book diagnoses WHY healthcare is sick. Then, it explains that the public and only the Public can fix healthcare. Finally, “Uproot U.S. Healthcare” shows you—the public—HOW to fix healthcare, in your own best interest and that of your family.

The Healthcare Executive's Guide to Urgent Care Centers and Freestanding EDs A blueprint for planning, building, and operating a successful urgent care center or freestanding ED. One in five Americans lacks adequate access to primary care physicians and even those patients with insurance and a primary care doctor can struggle to get same-day appointments, leaving many seeking treatment in overcrowded, high-cost emergency departments. Urgent care centers offer patients a lower-cost, convenient alternative to hospitals. For providers, these centers represent new business opportunities. This roadmap to urgent care centers will help you and your organization:Create a financial planDetermine whether to lease or buildDevelop an efficient staffing modelEffectively market the urgent care centerLearn strategies to grow and expand the urgent care center's servicesTake a look at the table of contents Chapter 1: Healthcare Market for Urgent Care Centers and Freestanding EDs Changing Insurance LandscapeCost of CareAccess to CareDefining Urgent Care FacilitiesED and Urgent Care Interface Chapter 2: Affiliation and Ownership Business CaseAffiliation Urgent Care ModelsIndependent Urgent Care Models Chapter 3: Creating a Financial Plan Market ConsiderationsFinancing 101 Chapter 4: Facility Considerations Location Is CrucialLease vs. OwnershipDefining Internal SpacesEquipment and Supply Needs Chapter 5: Billing, Coding, Collections Insurance Participation StrategiesDetermining Which Payers to Work WithContract NegotiationsBilling for Services Chapter 6: Human Resources and Staffing Hiring the Right PeopleStaffing RequirementsStaffing HoursStaffing Based on Clinic Model Chapter 7: Ancillary Testing: Laboratory and Radiology Services Determining What Laboratory Services to ProvideDetermining What Radiology Services to Provide Chapter 8: Clinical Patient Care Types of Clinical Conditions TreatedMedical Staff IssuesMedical EmergenciesA Few Clinical Pearls of Wisdom Chapter 9: Patient Satisfaction: Creating and Delivering the Right Expectations The Cost of Dissatisfied PatientsImproving Patient SatisfactionSpecific Techniques to Satisfy Your PatientsQuality Issues Chapter 10: Marketing Strategies Tailoring the Marketing MessageBuilding the Market PlanMarketing Basics Chapter 11: Safety and Risk Management A Culture of Safety and Preventing HarmA Systematic ApproachReducing Errors and Preventing HarmMilitary Aviation and Urgent Care MedicineTaking a WalkStay Focused on Ongoing Operations Chapter 12: Strategies to Expand Urgent Care Business Occupational MedicineImmunization ClinicTravel MedicinePhysical ExaminationsHospital Affiliated Clinics Chapter 13: The Freestanding Emergency Department Principles of the Freestanding EDAccess to care Chapter 14: Retail Clinics Basics of Retail Clinics Chapter 15: Urgent Care Centers as Part of Accountable Care Organization ACO ConceptACO StructureDocumentation and Electronic Health RecordsUrgent Care Centers and ACOs Chapter 16: The Ideal Urgent Care Clinic Planning the “I Have a Dream” Clinic

Many ongoing changes are likely to have an impact on cancer research and care. For example, technological advances are rapidly changing the way cancer research is conducted, and the recently passed healthcare reform legislation has many implications for cancer care. Technological advances are altering the way cancer research is conducted and cancer care is delivered, and the recently passed healthcare reform legislation has many implications for cancer care. There is a growing emphasis on molecularly targeted therapies, information technology (IT), and patient-centered care, and clinical cancer research has become a global endeavor. At the same time, there are concerns about shrinking research budgets and escalating costs of cancer care. Considering such changes, the National Cancer Policy Forum (NCPF) of the Institute of Medicine held a National Cancer Policy Summit on October 25, 2010. The Summit convened key leaders in the cancer community to identify and discuss the most pressing policy issues in cancer research and cancer care. The National Cancer Policy Summit: Opportunities and Challenges in Cancer Research and Care is a summary of the summit. The report explores policy issues related to cancer research, the implementation of healthcare reform, delivery of cancer care, and cancer control and public health needs. Expert participants suggested many potential actions to provide patient-centered cancer care, to foster more collaboration, and to achieve other goals to improve research and care.

New discoveries in genomics—that is, the study of the entire human genome—are changing how we diagnose and treat diseases. As the trend shifts from genetic testing largely being undertaken for rare genetic disorders to, increasingly, individuals being screened for common diseases, general practitioners, pediatricians, obstetricians/gynecologists, and other providers need to be knowledgeable about and comfortable using genetic information to improve their patients'health. To address these changes, the Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health held the public workshop'Innovations in Service Delivery in the Age of Genomics'on July 27, 2008.

In the last century, three influenza pandemics swept the globe. In 1918, the first pandemic (sometimes referred to as the “Spanish Flu”) killed over 500,000 Americans and more than 20 million people worldwide. One-third of the U.S. population was infected, and average life expectancy was reduced by 13 years. Pandemics in 1957 and 1968 killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions across the world. Scientists believe that viruses from birds played a role in each of those outbreaks. Today, we face a new threat. A new influenza strain — influenza A (H5N1) — is spreading through bird populations across Asia, Africa, and Europe, infecting domesticated birds, including ducks and chickens, and long-range migratory birds. The first recorded appearance of H5N1 in humans occurred in Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, the virus has infected over 200 people in the Eastern Hemisphere, with a mortality rate of over 50 percent.

Researchers, policymakers, sociologists and doctors have long asked how to best measure the health of a nation, yet the challenge persists. The nonprofit State of the USA, Inc. (SUSA) is taking on this challenge, demonstrating how to measure the health of the United States. The organization is developing a new website intended to provide reliable and objective facts about the U.S. in a number of key areas, including health, and to provide an interactive tool with which individuals can track the progress made in each of these areas. In 2008, SUSA asked the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the State of the USA Health Indicators to provide guidance on 20 key indicators to be used on the organization's website that would be valuable in assessing health. Each indicator was required to demonstrate: a clear importance to health or health care, the availability of reliable, high quality data to measure change in the indicators over time, the potential to be measured with federally collected data, and the capability to be broken down by geography, populations subgroups including race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Taken together, the selected indicators reflect the overall health of the nation and the efficiency and efficacy of U.S. health systems. The complete list of 20 can be found in the report brief and book.

Benefits and Beyond: A Comprehensive and Strategic Approach to Retirement, Health Care, and More provides readers with a variety of interdisciplinary principles and tools, including labor economics, human resources strategy, tax policy, metrics, and actuarial science. Rather than training students in the details of current benefits offerings, this text prepares students to deal with the future evolution of benefit designs and policy. Numerous cases, examples, and exercises engage readers and help them master the content. Key Features Includes a primer on actuarial concepts, which permeate benefit design and decision makingProvides global benefit comparisons between Europe, the United States, and the Pacific Rim and explores issues pertaining to ex-patriot assignments Focuses on fundamental labor economic issues, legal issues pertaining to benefits, and life cycle events and their relationship to benefit needs Covers both privately and publicly funded retirement plans as well as publicly funded retirement and health care programs Helps readers understand how to align business, human resource management, and benefit strategies and how to include them in benefit principles and designs for the workplace Offers a full range of benefit discussions, including retirement plans, health care, life insurance, equity benefits, disability plans, benefit administration, accommodation and convenience benefits, and the financing of private and public benefits

Proposals to reform the health care system typically focus on either increasing private insurance or expanding government-sponsored plans. Guaranteeing that everyone is insured, however, does not create a system with the quality of care patients want, the flexibility clinicians need, and the internal dynamics to continually improve the value of health care.In Total Cure, Hal Luft presents a comprehensive new proposal, SecureChoice, which does all that while providing affordable health insurance for every American. SecureChoice is a plan that restructures payment for medical care, harnessing the flexibility and responsiveness of the market by aligning the incentives of clinicians, hospitals, and insurers with those of the patient. It uses the accountability of government to ensure transparency, competition, and equity.SecureChoice has two major components. A universal pool covers the major risks of hospitalization and chronic illness, which account for almost two-thirds of all costs. Everyone would be in the pool, irrespective of employment, income, or health status. The second component emphasizes choice, flexibility, and responsibility. People will be able to choose any physician to serve as their “medical home,” to keep track of their health records, provide much of their care, and suggest referrals. Clinicians will have the information and incentives to continually enhance quality. SecureChoice also facilitates improvements in areas ranging from malpractice to pharmaceuticals and establishes new roles for key stakeholders such as health insurers.

Health Communications: From Theory to Practice is a much-needed resource for the fast-growing field of health communication. It combines a comprehensive introduction to current issues, theories, and special topics in health communication with a hands-on guide to program development and implementation. While the book is designed for students, professionals, and organizations with no significant field experience, it also includes advanced topics for health communication practitioners, public health experts, researchers, and health care providers with an interest in this field. Praise for Health Communication: From Theory to Practice'Dr. Schiavo superbly blends the practical with the theoretical in an elegantly and simply structured text on health communication. Her strategic use of case studies mixed with her own substantial field experience in the complexities of health communication in action effectively draws attention to the fundamental theme: health communication is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary field. And there are no magic bullets.'— Everold Hosein, Ph.D., communication advisor, World Health Organization Mediterranean Center for Vulnerability Reduction, Tunis, Tunisia and co-director, Indiana University Global Health Communication Research and Resources Project, Indianapolis'Essential reading for health communication students, professionals, or individuals who are new to the field. The abundance of practical advice, professional tips, key concepts, case studies, and illustrative examples facilitates the application of the theory and the use of the tools presented in this book. I have not found a more comprehensive and systematic guide into the art and science of this multidisciplinary field.'—Walter Saba, M.H.S., senior program officer, JHPIEGO—an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University'Health communication is integral to public health practice and advocacy. This book on its theory and practice fills a gap in the public health literature in a way that is accessible, useful, and comprehensive.'—Sally Guttmacher, Ph.D., professor, director MPH Program, Steinhardt School, New York University

Home to the world's most advanced medical practices, the United States spends more on health care than any other country. At the same time, treatment is harder to get in the United States than in most other industrialized nations. Benchmark statistics such as infant mortality and life expectancy reveal a society that is not nearly as healthy as it could be.This comprehensive analysis introduces the various organizations and institutions that make the U.S. health care system work—or fail to work, as the case may be. It identifies historical, social, political, and economic forces that shape this system and create policy dilemmas that are all too familiar. Donald A. Barr examines the structure of American health care and insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. He addresses the shift to for-profit managed care and how it may affect the delivery of care; the pharmaceutical industry and the impact of pharmaceutical policy; issues of long-term care; and the plight of the uninsured. The new edition also covers recent developments in areas such as prescription drugs, medical errors, and nursing shortages.

In 1988, an exciting and important new program was launched at the Institute of Medicine. Through the generosity of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation, a lecture series was established to bring to greater attention some of the critical health policy issues facing our nation today. Each year a subject of particular relevance is addressed through a lecture presented by experts in the field. The Rosenthal lecture included in this volume captures three exciting presentations, given by Drs. Elliott Fisher, George Isham, and Lucian Leape, and reveals the ensuing discussion on'Next Steps Toward Higher Quality Health Care.'

If we can decode the human genome and fashion working machines out of atoms, why can't we navigate the quagmire that is our health care system? In this important new book, Julius Richmond and Rashi Fein recount the fraught history of health care in America since the 1960s. After the advent of Medicare and Medicaid and with the progressive goal to make advances in medical care available to all, medical costs began their upward spiral. Cost control measures failed and led to the HMO revolution, turning patients into consumers and doctors into providers. The swelling ranks of Americans without any insurance at all dragged the United States to the bottom of the list of industrialized nations.Over the last century medical education was also profoundly transformed into today's powerful triumvirate of academic medical centers, schools of medicine and public health, and research programs, all of which have shaped medical practice and medical care. The authors show how the promises of medical advances have not been matched either by financing or by delivery of care.As a new crisis looms, and the existing patchwork of insurance is poised to unravel, American leaders must again take up the question of health care. This book brings the voice of reason and the promise of compromise to that debate.

The problems of medical care confront us daily: a bureaucracy that makes a trip to the doctor worse than a trip to the dentist, doctors who can't practice medicine the way they choose, more than 40 million people without health insurance.'Medical care is in crisis,'we are repeatedly told, and so it is. Barely one in five Americans thinks the medical system works well. Enter David M. Cutler, a Harvard economist who served on President Clinton's health care task force and later advised presidential candidate Bill Bradley. One of the nation's leading experts on the subject, Cutler argues in Your Money or Your Life that health care has in fact improved exponentially over the last fifty years, and that the successes of our system suggest ways in which we might improve care, make the system easier to deal with, and extend coverage to all Americans. Cutler applies an economic analysis to show that our spending on medicine is well worth it--and that we could do even better by spending more. Further, millions of people with easily manageable diseases, from hypertension to depression to diabetes, receive either too much or too little care because of inefficiencies in the way we reimburse care, resulting in poor health and in some cases premature death. The key to improving the system, Cutler argues, is to change the way we organize health care. Everyone must be insured for the medical system to perform well, and payments should be based on the quality of services provided not just on the amount of cutting and poking performed. Lively and compelling, Your Money or Your Life offers a realistic yet rigorous economic approach to reforming health care--one that promises to break through the stalemate of failed reform.

Centuries of scientific advances in agriculture have increased the quantity, quality, and variety of our food supply. Food in the United States is abundant and affordable, incomes are at record levels, nutrition and health knowledge is at an all-time high. Yet many Americans are not eating a proper diet. The result is an obesity epidemic that contributes to rising healthcare costs from increased rates of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and several cancers. Whether we see food as medicine or as the cause of disease, medical and agricultural research have the potential to come together in innovative ways to help consumers and producers understand and face the challenges of following a healthful diet. More than 100 leaders in agriculture, health research, education policy, and industry convened at the National Academies in June 2003 to share their opinions on what would be a more efficient and effective system for conducting food and health research. Some of their thoughts follow. Participants concluded that no one organization or agency can solve food-related health issues alone—the nation needs better mechanisms for bringing together its agriculture and health-care infrastructures to address food-related health problems. Addressing the obesity issue, in particular, will require a multidisciplinary strategy that includes research on foods, consumer knowledge and behavior, and the economics of food- and health-related activities, including food pricing, health-care costs, and agricultural support programs.

A new release in the Quality Chasm Series, Priority Areas for National Action recommends a set of 20 priority areas that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other groups in the public and private sectors should focus on to improve the quality of health care delivered to all Americans. The priority areas selected represent the entire spectrum of health care from preventive care to end of life care. They also touch on all age groups, health care settings and health care providers. Collective action in these areas could help transform the entire health care system. In addition, the report identifies criteria and delineates a process that DHHS may adopt to determine future priority areas.

The Institute of Medicine: Adviser to the Nation -- Highlighted reports -- Global health and infectious disease -- Health sciences and the research enterprise -- Ensuring food safety and proper nutrition -- Assuring the public's health -- Health care delivery system and performance capabilities -- Human security and bioterrorism -- Military personnel and veterans -- Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program -- Senior nurse scholar program -- Recent and upcoming reports.

New Horizons in Health discusses how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can integrate research in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences to better understand the causes of disease as well as interventions that promote health. It outlines a set of research priorities for consideration by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), with particular attention to research that can support and complement the work of the National Institutes of Health. By addressing the range of interactions among social settings, behavioral patterns, and important health concerns, it highlights areas of scientific opportunity where significant investment is most likely to improve national—and global—health outcomes. These opportunities will apply the knowledge and methods of the behavioral and social sciences to contemporary health needs, and give attention to the chief health concerns of the general public.

Prepared by the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Health Objectives for the Year 2000.

It is not news that each of us grows old. What is relatively new, however, is that the average age of the American population is increasing. More and better information is required to assess, plan for, and meet the needs of a graying population. The Aging Population in the Twenty-First Century examines social, economic, and demographic changes among the aged, as well as many health-related topics: health promotion and disease prevention; quality of life; health care system financing and use; and the quality of care—especially long-term care. Recommendations for increasing and improving the data available—as well as for ensuring timely access to them—are also included.