scholarly journals A systematic review to assess the impact of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) and the feasibility to fully adopt in Hong Kong elder care services

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Wing Pun ◽  
Lana Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Elderly Health ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Finding a solution to tackle the overcrowding and over-reliance on public health care services has been a policy agenda of the Hong Kong Government throughout the past decade. The purpose of this review is to provide valuable insight for policymakers to understand whether the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) is a realistic policy tool to shift service demand from the public to the private sector and its possibility to apply in other similar publicly funded settings.Methods: Included records in this review were selected through CINAHL, PubMed, and Google Scholar peer-reviewed articles databases and nine targeted government websites. All potential records were assessed based on the prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thematic synthesis was used to combine the extracted data and to construct key themes of the impact of the EHCVS.Results: The findings highlight some of the successes of the policy that focus on strengthening the connection between government, elders and private health care providers, and improving the quality of acute care. However, less than successful elements that require revision include designing the purpose of voucher for preventive care and disease management and shifting elders from the public to private health sector through financial incentives. Overall, the analysis suggested the financial subsidies have not motivated elders to utilise private health care services, but rather it demonstrates an effort by the Hong Kong Government to begin addressing public health care waiting lists while prioritising quality care for senior citizens throughout the last 10 years.Conclusion: Better consideration of the subsidy amount to remove the financial burden of the older population, along with greater information disclosure and promotion may increase elders’ willingness to utilise private elder care services, potentially improve the quality of life for seniors, and ultimately reduce the burden on public elder care sector in the future.

scholarly journals Improvement of Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. S18-22
Author(s):  
Cheryl C.W Ho ◽  
Tommy K.C Ng
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Private Health Care ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Voucher Scheme ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Elderly Health ◽  
The Government

Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme is a financial support provided by the government to the elderly for having more choices in selecting private primary health care services. It has been launched for more than ten years (including pilot scheme). The success of the voucher depends on its effectiveness so that Hong Kong elderly can benefit from it. The aim of this article is to analyse whether the voucher scheme has achieved its goals and what improvement can be made. The scheme is successful in encouraging the elderly to use private primary care, considering that the participation rate of the scheme is high, and elderly could use private health care services to supplement public health care services. Yet, the amount of the subsidy is insufficient to support the needs of the elderly and the providers of the voucher are not enough for Hong Kong elderly. Also, it is found that private health care services give the old generation an impression of expensiveness and unreliable even with the support of the Health Care Voucher. To improve the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme and solve the problems, the government should increase the amount of the voucher, set standards for regular monitoring, cooperate with private health care providers and invite more providers. Ultimately, the elderly would enjoy greater flexibility in choosing medical services in meeting their needs and the scheme can effectively achieve its purpose.

scholarly journals The Association of Residence Permits on Utilization of Health Care Services by Migrant Workers in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9623
Author(s):  
Haochuan Xu ◽  
Han Yang ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Xuefeng Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Access ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Care Access ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Impact

Due to the limitations in the verifiability of individual identity, migrant workers have encountered some obstacles in access to public health care services. Residence permits issued by the Chinese government are a solution to address the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers. In principle, migrant workers with residence permits have similar rights as urban locals. However, the validity of residence permits is still controversial. This study aimed to examine the impact of residence permits on public health care services. Data were taken from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS). Our results showed that the utilization of health care services of migrant workers with residence permits was significantly better than others. However, although statistically significant, the substantive significance is modest. In addition, megacities had significant negative moderating effects between residence permits and health care services utilization. Our research results emphasized that reforms of the household registration system, taking the residence permit system as a breakthrough, cannot wholly address the health care access inequality in China. For developing countries with uneven regional development, the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers is a structural issue.

scholarly journals An estimation of willingness to pay for secondary health care services in Tamil Nadu, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
K Ramu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Secondary Health Care ◽  
User Fee

The present study has estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) for secondary health care services (SHCS) in rural and urban environment of three districts in the state of Tamil Nadu during 2009-2011. Since the governments are struggling to mobilise additional financial        resources to provide essential health care services to the deprived population in the country, assessing the WTP for utilising the public health care services are realised as very important at this juncture. In realizing the importance of augmentation of resources, it has been decided to introduce contingent valuation method (CVM) for WTP of SHCS. A disproportionate systematic random sampling method has been adopted for the selection of 720 households; representing 240 respondents from each of the three districts represent 120 from rural and 120 from urban. A major portion (92%) of the surveyed respondents’ gender was male, literacy was high (90%) and they belonged to productive age group. They generally involve themselves in the farm and non - farm activities and avail employment. Their per capita income is Rs.17871, and it is lower than the India’s PCI. The SHCS are classified into 26 categories as per the guidelines provided by public health medical officers in the state of Tamil Nadu. The different health care services started with entry fee to dental problem. The 98.6 per cent of the total surveyed respondents are ready to pay for SHCS in a public hospital and the remaining 2.4 per cent of them are not willing to pay for the same. The range of WTP for 26 SHCS is Rs. 2 - 7000; the range of mean value is Rs. 6 - 5008 and the range of SD is 2 - 2854. Considering the view of majority of the respondents, this study prescribes to introduce the range of user fee for the identified major public health care services. Since the range is differed significantly, it is suggested to follow the minimum amount initially and in a phased manner, the policy makers may prescribe to enhance the user fee after assessing the ground realities and loopholes. The estimated R2 value for SHCS is 20 per cent, which indicates that the selected 12 independent variables have low influence on WTP for SHCS. The study reports that the other exogenous factors like intensity of disease, accessibility of services, quality, urgency, need and perception are the predominant determinants of WTP for SHCS. The present research contends that constitution of district level co-ordination committee for fixing and implementing user fee for SHCS. Introduction of nominal fee (user fee) for SHCS may be fixed for affordable population, free services for BPL population and it would improve the efficiency and equity of the public health care services for the marginalised population. Finally, it is of utmost importance for health professionals to follow ethics in their profession.

scholarly journals Nothing but Trouble: Studies on the Effects of Reforms in Elderly Care in Sweden and Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iwona Sobis
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care For The Elderly ◽  
The Future

Abstract Reforms of the public sector, conducted in the spirit of NPM since the 1990s, are frequently studied by Western and Eastern scholars. The research shows national variations in how the NPM idea was translated and adapted into a country’s context and regulations. Care for the elderly is an interesting example of reforms conducted in the spirit of NPM, because it relates to welfare and health care and to the competences of provincial and local authorities in most European countries. This paper addresses the following questions: What do we know about the reforms conducted in the spirit of NPM and its practical implication within the field of care for the elderly during 1990 - 2010? What kind of knowledge about care for the elderly is still missing and should be developed in the future ? Th is paper conducts comparative research on what is known about the effects of the Swedish and the Polish reforms regarding care for the elderly. It argues that most literature points to negative effects, but also to the fact that there are still gaps in our knowledge about the effects of reforms concerning elderly care, especially regarding its organization. Hence, despite all the research done, we do not know what kind of social and health-care services for seniors represent the best practices for the future.

scholarly journals Willingness to pay for improved public health care services in Saudi Arabia: a contingent valuation study among heads of Saudi households

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed K. Al-Hanawi ◽  
Omar Alsharqi ◽  
Kirit Vaidya
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Services

AbstractThe bulk of health care service provision in Saudi Arabia is undertaken by the public health care sector through the Ministry of Health, which is funded annually by the total government budget, which, in turn, is derived primarily from oil revenue. Public health care services in Saudi Arabia are characterised by an overload, overuse, and shortage of medical personnel, which can result in dissatisfaction with the quality of the current public health care services. This study uses a contingent valuation method to investigate the willingness of Saudi people to pay for improvements to the quality of public health care services. This study also determines the association between the willingness to pay for quality improvements and respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 1187 heads of household in Jeddah Province over a five-month period. Multi-stage sampling was employed to recruit participants. Partial Tobit regression and corresponding marginal effects analyses were used to analyse the data. These empirical analyses show that the majority of the sample was willing to pay for quality improvements in the public health care services. The results of this study might be of use to policymakers to help with both priority setting and fund allocation.

scholarly journals Oral health disparities in the time of COVID-19: An indication for focus on public health care strengthening and preventive care

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-43
Author(s):  
Sukhvinder Singh Oberoi ◽  
Shibani Grover ◽  
Shabina Sachdeva
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Public Health Care System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care System

The COVID-19 has impacted the health service delivery especially, the public health care system which is already overburdened. The dental health care carries the huge risk of infection due to the generation of the aerosols, through high-speed airotor. This has led to a big toll on the delivery of the dental services at global level. Even when the oral health care services are getting opened, there is still lot of dilemmas in the mind of oral health professionals in provision of the services. This crisis has given us a chance for addressing the issues of relevance affecting the oral health care services and failures of the health care system. It is time to rethink our priorities and strengthen the over-all integrity of the health care system. These calls for higher focus upon the oral care prevention strategies can be amalgamated as part of the public health care system along with strengthening of public health care.

Right to health and access to health-care services for refugees in Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ela Gokalp Aras ◽  
Sertan Kabadayi ◽  
Emir Ozeren ◽  
Erhan Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to refugees’ exclusion from health-care services. More specifically, using institutional theory, this paper identifies regulative pillar-, normative pillar- and cultural/cognitive pillar-related challenges that result in refugees having limited or no access to health-care services. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on both secondary research and empirical insights from two qualitative fieldwork studies totaling 37 semi-structured meso-level interviews, observations and focus groups in three Turkish cities (Izmir, Ankara and Edirne), as well as a total of 42 micro-level, semi-structured interviews with refugees and migrants in one large city (Izmir) in Turkey. Findings This study reveals that systematically stratified legal statuses result in different levels of access to public health-care services for migrants, asylum seekers or refugees based on their fragmented protection statuses. The findings suggest access to health-care is differentiated not only between local citizens and refugees but also among the refugees and migrants based on their legal status as shaped by their country of origin. Originality/value While the role of macro challenges such as laws and government regulations in shaping policies about refugees have been examined in other fields, the impact of such factors on refugee services and well-being has been largely ignored in service literature in general, as well as transformative service research literature in particular. This study is one of the first attempts by explicitly including macro-level factors to contribute to the discussion on the refugees’ access to public health-care services in a host country by relying on the institutional theory by providing a holistic understanding of cognitive, normative and regulative factors in understanding service exclusion problem.

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