Future Comprehensive Health Care for All People

As the role of traditional medicine in community health improvement increases, a comprehensive health care program for infectious diseases management in child-care centers by Korean medicine doctors was developed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of the program intervention on infection-related medical care utilization among children. The study used a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent control group, comparing pre- and post-intervention data of the same children. The program implemented interventions in terms of management, education, and medical examination for the teachers, parents, and children in 12-week period. The frequency of utilization, cost, and prescription days of drugs and antibiotics due to infectious diseases prior to the intervention were compared with those during the 3-month intervention, using health insurance claim data. A panel analysis was also conducted to support the findings. A significant reduction (12%) in infection-related visit days of hospitals was observed with the intervention (incident rate ratio = 0.88,P=0.01). And medical cost, drug prescription days, and antibiotics prescription days were decreased, although not statistically significant. A further cost-effectiveness analysis in terms of social perspectives, considering the opportunity costs for guardians to take children to medical institutions, would be needed.

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Providing Comprehensive Health Care to Children With Chronic Illness

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.93.4.602 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 93 (4) ◽

pp. 602-607

Author(s):

Dorothy Jones Jessop ◽

Ruth E. K. Stein

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Inner City ◽

Chronic Conditions ◽

Health Needs ◽

Comprehensive Care ◽

Outreach Program ◽

Comprehensive Health Care ◽

Unmet Health Needs ◽

Comprehensive Health ◽

Randomized Control

Objectives. To test whether a program of outreach and comprehensive health care for children with chronic disorders provides more complete care and reduces unmet health needs compared with traditional care. Design. A pretest-posttest randomized control trial. Setting. An inner-city municipal teaching hospital. Sample. Two hundred nineteen systematically enrolled mothers of children with diverse chronic physical health conditions. Interventions. A comprehensive outreach program, Pediatric Home Care (PHC), contrasted with Standard Care. Measurements and Results. Nine elements of comprehensive care established in the literature as components of a basic package of care for those with chronic conditions. The PHC intervention addressed gaps in services and improved both the acquisition and maintenance of elements of comprehensive care. Conclusions. These data suggest mechanisms through which comprehensive care programs may contribute to the improvement in psychological and social outcomes previously reported for those in the PHC intervention.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics Involvement in Health Care Financing

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.54.1.98 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 98-105

Author(s):

Richard Don Blim

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

American Academy ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Health Care Financing ◽

Third Party ◽

Comprehensive Health Care ◽

Financial Barriers ◽

Care Plans ◽

American Academy Of Pediatrics ◽

Comprehensive Health

In what is considered one of the most important books of the past decade—Future Shock—Alvin Toffler1 describes the sickness that befalls an individual, an organization, or a nation when it is overwhelmed by rapid changes. He asserts that two actions must be initiated if "future shock" is to be minimized. They are (1) make the best assumptions possible about the future, and (2) undertake to control change. The health care field in the '70s faces many complex and difficult problems. Removing the financial barriers to comprehensive health care for all is but one of these formidable problems. Unquestionably, other problems involving the quality, quantity, efficiency and distribution of health care delivery require continued attention and should be resolved concurrently with the development of methods to finance comprehensive health care for all. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS (AAP) COMMITTEE ON THIRD PARTY PAYMENT PLANS In October 1956 the AAP appointed a Committee on Medical Care Plans. This committee was active until 1962 and was then dormant until 1964. At that time, the Council on Pediatric Practice was established in response to urgings of a number of Fellows that more consideration be given to the problems of the practice of pediatrics and its socioeconomic aspects. The Executive Board charged the council to concern itself with the delivery by pediatricians of the best possible care for the greatest number of children. At its first meeting in 1964, the council determined that the two items needing most urgent attention were the development of standards for child health care and the problems relating to various third party payment health plans, both private and governmental.

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