Health Services Research articles from December 2006

Health Services Research archives from December 2006

The ownership society and health: 2006 AcademyHealth's chair's address.(Editorial)(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention, President Bush called upon America to "build an ownership society," where "more people will own their health plans and have confidence of owning a piece of their...

The effect of two publicly funded insurance programs on use of dental services for young children.(Health Insurance)
December 1, 2006... Poor oral health remains a problem for many children despite the national decline in dental caries that has occurred over the past several decades. A national commitment to addressing this problem has developed in recent years and is embedded...

Health insurance take-up by the near-elderly.(Health Insurance)
December 1, 2006... There is considerable concern among U.S. policy makers about the insurance coverage of "near-elderly" adults, i.e., those between the ages of 55 and 64. Because attachment to the labor force weakens as individuals approach the normal retirement...

What's driving the downward trend in employer-sponsored health insurance?(Health Insurance)
December 1, 2006... Although the majority of Americans receive their health insurance through an employment-based health plan, that number is declining as health insurance premiums rise, the share of the premium that is passed on to employees rises, and fewer...

Estimation of a hedonic pricing model for Medigap insurance.(Health Insurance)
December 1, 2006... While Medicare benefits are extensive, the program has deductible and co-insurance requirements as well as limitations on payments to providers. For many Medicare beneficiaries, the financial risk introduced by out-of-pocket requirements is...

Is some provider advice on smoking cessation better than no advice? An instrumental variable analysis of the 2001 National Health Interview Survey.(Preventive Care)
December 1, 2006... Despite much increased awareness of the health hazards of smoking, 23 percent of American adult population remain smokers in 2001 (National Center for Health Statistics 2003a). Although the majority (about two-thirds) of smoking adults had some...

Colorectal cancer screening in the elderly population: disparities by dual Medicare-Medicaid enrollment status.(Preventive Care)
December 1, 2006... Colorectal cancer (CRC), a highly prevalent condition and a leading cancer-related cause of death in the elderly (Jemal et al. 2005), is potentially curable when detected early (Smith, Cokkinides, and Eyre 2005). In addition, when surgery for...

Comparing United States versus international medical school graduate physicians who serve African-American and white elderly.(Physician Differences)
December 1, 2006... The percentage of African-American physicians in the United States has remained constant over the last 30 years at 3.9 percent of all physicians, while the percentage of international medical school graduates (IMGs) providing medical care in...

How do doctors in different countries manage the same patient? Results of a factorial experiment.(Physician Differences)
December 1, 2006... Disparities in the availability and quality of medical care within the United States have been extensively documented over the last several decades and are the subject of an Institute of Medicine report (2003). There is an interest in health...

Variation in chemotherapy utilization in ovarian cancer: the relative contribution of geography.(Explaining Variations)
December 1, 2006... Each year in the United States, 24,000 women are newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer and over 14,000 die of the disease (American Cancer Society 2004). Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common and fourth most deadly malignancy in U.S. women....

Racial variation in end-of-life intensive care use: a race or hospital effect?(Explaining Variations)
December 1, 2006... One in five Americans die in the hospital using intensive care unit (ICU) services, and these hospitalizations consume over 80 percent of all terminal hospitalization costs (Angus et al. 2004). Variations in end-of-life ICU admission exist by...

Can the quality of care in family practice be measured using administrative data?(Methods)
December 1, 2006... Primary care is the foundation of the Canadian health care system. A strong Primary Health Care (PHC) system has been shown to result in a healthier population (Shi 1997; Macinko, Starfield, and Shi 2003) and may also contribute more to the...

Estimating the effect of smoking cessation on weight gain: an instrumental variable approach.(Methods)
December 1, 2006... Healthy People 2010 identifies tobacco use and obesity as important focus areas for the United States public health community (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2000). The two priorities share an important link. Over the past 25...

Effect of dialysis center profit-status on patient survival: a comparison of risk-adjustment and instrumental variable approaches.(Methods)
December 1, 2006... The percentage of for-profit dialysis centers increased from approximately 60 percent in 1991 to nearly 80 percent in 2001 (U.S. Renal Data System 2004). The effect of dialysis center "profit" status on provision of care and outcomes for...

Caught in the act? Prevalence, predictors, and consequences of physician detection of unannounced standardized patients.(Research Briefs)
December 1, 2006... Standardized patients (SPs) are people trained to portray patient roles so that practicing physicians cannot distinguish them from real patients (McLeod et al. 1997; Rosen et al. 2004). Research designs using high-quality, unannounced (or...

Correction to "how do doctors in different countries manage the same patient? Results of a factorial experiment.".(Erratum)(Correction notice)
December 1, 2006... John McKinlay, Carol Link, Sara Arber, Lisa Marceau, Amy O'Donnell, and Ann Adams. Article published online on July 6, 2006, and printed in this issue, HSR Volume 41, Number 6, December 2006. The paper entitled, "How do doctors in different...