Government Resources on Mental Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 573-573
Author(s):  
Paul Baldwin

State and federal governments collect massive amounts of data, both in their role as sponsors of research and as payers for an increasing share of health care services. The information available includes definitive clinical research as well as statistical information about disease prevalence and contribution to health care costs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 573-573
Author(s):  
Paul Baldwin

State and federal governments collect massive amounts of data, both in their role as sponsors of research and as payers for an increasing share of health care services. The information available includes definitive clinical research as well as statistical information about disease prevalence and contribution to health care costs.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-857
Author(s):  
David R. Smith

During the past 30 years, social and economic barriers to health care services have increased for many Americans, especially for the nation's most vulnerable populations. Health status actually has declined for certain populations during this time. Meanwhile, national attention has been focused primarily on containing health care costs and on devising strategies for reforming the financing of health care rather than strategies for achieving improvements in the health status of the population. Existing methods of financing health care services, health research priorities, the increasing centralization and compartmentalization of health care services, and the recent failure of national health reform all serve to hinder this nation's progress towards developing a comprehensive and accountable health care system focused on promoting and achieving improved health as well as treating sickness. Recent changes in the health care marketplace, however, including a growing movement toward measuring the outcomes of medical treatments and an emphasis on improving the quality of services, have increased interest among payers and providers of health care services in investing in preventive services. Health maintenance organizations and other integrated health care delivery systems are beginning to devise incentives for increasing preventive care as well as for containing costs. The transformation of the nation's current medical care system into a true health care system will require innovative strategies designed to merge the existing fragmented array of services into coordinated and comprehensive systems for delivering primary and preventive health care services in community settings. The community-Oriented Primary Care concept successfully blends these functions and has achieved measurable results in reducing health care costs and improving access to preventive services for identified populations. There is flexibility in existing funding sources to promote preventive services in various public and private health care settings and to assist in the transformation from a disease-oriented medical care system to one focused on health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Niedermaier ◽  
Anna Freiberg ◽  
Daniel Tiller ◽  
Andreas Wienke ◽  
Amand Führer

Abstract Background Asylum seekers are a vulnerable group with special needs in health care due to their migration history and pre-, peri- and postmigratory social determinants of health. However, in Germany access to health care is restricted for asylum seekers by law and administrative regulations. Methods Using claims data generated in the billing process of health care services provided to asylum seekers, we explore their utilization of health care services in the outpatient sector. We describe the utilization of outpatient specialties, prevalences of diagnoses, prescribed drugs and other health care services, as well as total costs of health care provision. Results The estimated prevalence for visiting an ambulatory physician at least once per year was 67.5% [95%-Confidence-Interval (CI): 65.1–69.9%], with a notably higher prevalence for women than men. The diagnoses with the highest one-year prevalence were “Acute upper respiratory infections” (16.1% [14.5–18.0%]), “Abdominal and pelvic pain” (15.6% [13.9–17.4%]) and “Dorsalgia” (13.8% [12.2–15.5%]). A total of 21% of all prescriptions were for common pain killers. Women received more diagnoses across most diagnosis groups and prescribed drugs from all types than men. Less than half (45.3%) of all health care costs were generated in the outpatient sector. Conclusion The analysis of claims data held in a municipal social services office is a novel approach to gain better insight into asylum seekers’ utilization of health services on an individual level. Compared to regularly insured patients, four characteristics in health care utilization by asylum seekers were identified: low utilization of ambulatory physicians; a gender gap in almost all services, with higher utilization by women; frequent prescription of pain killers; and a low proportion of overall health care costs generated in the outpatient sector. Further research is needed to describe structural and individual factors producing these anomalies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina T. Wong ◽  
Chi Kao ◽  
James A. Crouch ◽  
Carol C. Korenbrot

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (03) ◽  
pp. 337-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kolasa ◽  
Marta Kowalczyk

AbstractThe existence of different forms of out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) for pharmaceuticals across the globe provokes the question whether they can achieve more negative or positive consequences. A systematic literature review was conducted to assess the association between drug cost sharing and health care services utilization, health care costs as well as health outcomes. Studies published in The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase were searched with such keywords as: drug, pharmaceutical, cost sharing, out of pocket, co-payments paired with the following: impact, health outcomes, health care costs and utilization. The final review included 18 articles. A total of 11 publications reported the association between drug cost sharing and health care utilization patterns, of which nine found a statistically significant direct relationship. In all 10 publications concerned the association between drug copayments and health care costs. Majority were limited to the impact on the drug budget. Seven studies looked into the link between drug cost sharing and health outcomes, of which five reported statistically significant inverse relationship. There is some evidence for the association between drug copayments, health outcomes and health care services consumption. The optimal system of OOPs’ payments for pharmaceuticals needs to prevent drugs’ overconsumption and mitigate the risks of excessive cost sharing’s burden.


Author(s):  
Thomas Grochtdreis ◽  
Susanne Röhr ◽  
Franziska U. Jung ◽  
Michaela Nagl ◽  
Anna Renner ◽  
...  

Refugees who have fled from the ongoing civil war in Syria that arrived in Germany often develop post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The aim of this study was to determine health care services utilization (HCSU), health care costs and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) of Syrian refugees with mild to moderate PTSS without current treatment in Germany. The study was based on the baseline sample of a randomized controlled trial of a self-help app for Syrian refugees with PTSS (n = 133). HCSU and HrQoL based on the EQ-5D-5L and its visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) were assessed with standardized interviews. Annual health care costs were calculated using extrapolated four-month HCSU and standardized unit costs. Associations between health care costs, HrQoL and PTSS severity were examined using generalized linear models. Overall, 85.0% of the sample utilized health care services within four months. The mean total annual health care costs were EUR 1920 per person. PTSS severity was not associated with health care costs. The EQ-5D-5L index score and the EQ-VAS score was 0.82 and 73.6, respectively. For Syrian refugees with higher PTSS severity, the EQ-5D-5L index score was lower (−0.17; p < 0.001). The HCSU and the resulting health care costs of Syrian refugees with mild to moderate PTSS without current treatment are low and those with a higher PTSS severity had a lower HrQoL.


Author(s):  
Laura Nedzinskienė ◽  
Elena Jurevičienė ◽  
Žydrūnė Visockienė ◽  
Agnė Ulytė ◽  
Roma Puronaitė ◽  
...  

Background. Patients with multimorbidity account for ever-increasing healthcare resource usage and are often summarised as big spenders. Comprehensive analysis of health care resource usage in different age groups in patients with at least two non-communicable diseases is still scarce, limiting the quality of health care management decisions, which are often backed by limited, small-scale database analysis. The health care system in Lithuania is based on mandatory social health insurance and is covered by the National Health Insurance Fund. Based on a national Health Insurance database. The study aimed to explore the distribution, change, and interrelationships of health care costs across the age groups of patients with multimorbidity, suggesting different priorities at different age groups. Method. The study identified all adults with at least one chronic disease when any health care services were used over a three-year period between 2012 and 2014. Further data analysis excluded patients with single chronic conditions and further analysed patients with multimorbidity, accounting for increasing resource usage. The costs of primary, outpatient health care services; hospitalizations; reimbursed and paid out-of-pocket medications were analysed in eight age groups starting at 18 and up to 85 years and over. Results. The study identified a total of 428,430 adults in Lithuania with at least two different chronic diseases from the 32 chronic disease list. Out of the total expenditure within the group, 51.54% of the expenses were consumed for inpatient treatment, 30.90% for reimbursed medications. Across different age groups of patients with multimorbidity in Lithuania, 60% of the total cost is attributed to the age group of 65–84 years. The share in the total spending was the highest in the 75–84 years age group amounting to 29.53% of the overall expenditure, with an increase in hospitalization and a decrease in outpatient services. A decrease in health care expenses per capita in patients with multimorbidity after 85 years of age was observed. Conclusions. The highest proportion of health care expenses in patients with multimorbidity relates to hospitalization and reimbursed medications, increasing with age, but varies through different services. The study identifies the need to personalise the care of patients with multimorbidity in the primary-outpatient setting, aiming to reduce hospitalizations with proactive disease management.


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