Screening For Left Ventricular Dysfunction May Have Less Value Than Thought
The value and cost-effectiveness of screening for left ventricular (LV) dysfunction remains unclear, particularly since specific, evidence-based treatments are not available for the majority of patients with preserved systolic dysfunction, reports a study in the June issue of the Journal of Cardiac Failure, published by Elsevier.
Endocrinology
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Eliminating Polio Requires Global, Coordinated Effort -- Health Affairs Article Highlights Risks, Rewards Of Eradication
of the primary care strategy in many lower- and middle-income countries. David P. Gaus 1011 Innovations In Health Services Delivery From Transition Economies In Eastern Europe And Central Asia Despite myriad challenges, many formerly Eastern Bloc countries reformed their health systems while moving to market economies. Armin Fidler, Caryn Bredenkamp, and Sally Schlippert 1022 An Unhealthy Public-Private Tension: Pharmacy Ownership, Prescribing, And Spending In The Philippines Physicians who are linked to pharmacies do not prescribe more-costly medicines, but they do persuade patients to use those pharmacies. Chris D. James, John Peabody, Orville Solon, Stella Quimbo, and Kara Hanson Public Spending 1034 PROLOGUE: Raising Public Spending 1035 Lessons From Taiwan"s Universal National Health Insurance: A Conversation With Taiwan"s Health Minister Ching-Chuan Yeh Fourteen years of experience with national health insurance have produced important results that other countries might find of interest. Tsung-Mei Cheng 1045 Does Funding From Donors Displace Government Spending For Health In Developing Countries? If governments substitute donor funds for their own financing, dire consequences can result for developing countries. Marwa Farag, A.K. Nandakumar, Stanley S. Wallack, Gary Gaumer, and Dominic Hodgkin 1056 Borrowing And Selling To Pay For Health Care In Low- And Middle- Income Countries One in four households in forty developing countries resort to "hardship financing" to pay for health care. Margaret E. Kruk, Emily Goldmann, and Sandro Galea 1067 Public Views Of Health System Issues In Four Asian Countries Respondents complain that those running their health systems do not solicit citizens" input or consider their views when making decisions. Mrigesh Bhatia, Ravi Rannan-Eliya, Aparnaa Somanathan, Mohammed N. Huq, Badri Raj Pande, and Batbayar Chuluunzagd Polio 1078 PROLOGUE: Battling Polio 1079 Polio Eradication: Strengthening The Weakest Links Eradicating polio depends as much on improving the economics of vaccine manufacture as on vaccination itself. Scott Barrett 1091 Diplomacy And The Polio Immunization Boycott In Northern Nigeria With scientific evidence and pressure from political allies and religious authority figures, a Nigerian polio vaccine boycott was brought to an end. Judith R. Kaufmann and Harley Feldbaum Brazil 1102 PROLOGUE: Spotlight On Brazil 1103 AIDS Treatment In Brazil: Impacts And Challenges Brazil"s accomplishments in treating AIDS are unprecedented and have profoundly influenced global AIDS and health policy. Amy Stewart Nunn, Elize Massard da Fonseca, Francisco I. Bastos, and Sofia Gruskin 1114 Public-Private Partnerships And Public Hospital Performance In Sç£o Paulo, Brazil Innovations in public hospital management in this Brazilian state present a model for other developing countries struggling with the same set of problems. Gerard M. La Forgia and April Harding 1127 The Health Effects Of Decentralizing Primary Care In Brazil When ambulatory care facilities are turned over to local control, a locality"s infant mortality rate appears to improve. Frederico C. Guanais and JamesMacinko Health Tracking 1136 MARKETWATCH: The Political Economy Of U.S. Primary Care The singular lack of balance between primary and specialty care has serious consequences for health care in the United States. Lewis G. Sandy, Thomas Bodenheimer, L. Gregory Pawlson, and Barbara Starfield 1145 MARKETWATCH: High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans: Efforts To Sharpen A Blunt Instrument Deductibles can create powerful yet potentially indiscriminate and blunt incentives for consumers to alter their care-seeking behavior. Mary Reed, Vicki Fung, Mary Price, Richard Brand, Nancy Benedetti, Stephen F. Derose, Joseph P. Newhouse, and John Hsu 1154 MARKETWATCH: Outlier Payments For Cardiac Surgery And Hospital Quality High quality of care is strongly associated with low rates of compensatory payments for cardiac surgery. Onur Baser, Zhahoui Fan, Justin B. Dimick, Douglas O. Staiger, and John D. Birkmeyer Narrative Matters 1161 PREFACE: Narrative Matters Turns Ten 1163 On The Southern Front Caring for elderly parents across borders and cultures and languages. Julia Alvarez 1171 In The Midst Of Sickness In the story of AIDS in Botswana, there are themes of human kindness and of people and nations not walking away from suffering. Alexander McCall Smith 1177 A Touch Of Sense Patients and physicians connect through touch and trust. Abraham Verghese 1183 Still Closing The Gap Years after the Civil Rights movement, how is it that health care in the United States remains separate and lethally unequal? Fitzhugh Mullan DataWatch 1189 Composite Measures For Predicting Surgical Mortality In The Hospital A simple measure-based on hospital case counts and number of deaths-can explain variations in hospital mortality rates. Justin B. Dimick, Douglas O. Staiger, Onur Baser, and John D. Birkmeyer 1199 Use Of Beta-Blockers During Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Bridging The Gap Between Evidence And Effective Practice To use a procedure-specific guideline such as this one effectively, it is necessary to evaluate the data as they apply to each patient"s procedure risk. Benjamin S. Brooke, Francesca Dominici, Martin A. Makary, and Peter J. Pronovost GrantWatch 1210 ESSAY: What Do We Really Know About Foundations" Funding Of Mental Health? The sheer breadth of the mental health field sometimes obscures its visibility to funders. Ruth Tebbets Brousseau and Andrew D. Hyman 1215 Outcomes The Kaiser Family Foundation"s new Web "gateway" on U.S. global health policy; foundation-funded projects on long-term care; how a foundation helped a New Orleans health center get federally qualified health center (FQHC) designation; and key personnel changes at foundations. Book Reviews 1219 Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault On Our Children Philip Shabecoff and Alice Shabecoff [Reviewed by Parmeeth M.S. Atwal] 1221 Is There A Doctor In The House? Market Signals And Tomorrow"s Supply Of Doctors Richard M. Scheffler [Reviewed by John K. Iglehart] 1223 The Innovator"s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution For Health Care Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman, and Jason Hwang [Reviewed by J.D. Kleinke] 1225 BookMarks Kay Campbell Burness CommunicationsPages: 1 [2]