scholarly journals Availability and accessibility of opioids for pain and palliative care in Colombia: a survey study

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Ximena León ◽  
Miguel Antonio Sánchez-Cárdenas ◽  
Luisa Fernanda Rodríguez-Campos ◽  
Jairo Moyano ◽  
Andrés López Velasco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Pain Treatment ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Health Insurance Companies

Introduction: Access to essential medicines, including opioids, is a component of the right to health. Objective: To identify barriers to opioid availability and accessibility for pain and palliative care. Methods: Online survey with Colombian prescribers. Availability barriers were analyzed for each facility (distribution and/or dispensing). Accessibility barriers were analyzed by type. Descriptive analyses were conducted using relative frequencies. Significance within categories and regions was measured using Fisher's exact test. Results: Out of 1,208 prescribers invited, 806 (66.7%) completed the survey. Availability: 76.43% reported barriers. The most cited barrier was “Pharmacies authorized by health insurance companies”, where opioids are frequently unavailable. Accessibility: 74.6% reported barriers. Most frequently cited was “Difficulty securing payment authorization for medication from health insurance companies”. Significant differences were observed in terms of regions and “Cost” (p=0.02). Lack of coordination among procuring and distributing agencies affects availability. Limited awareness and bureaucratic procedures affect accessibility. Conclusions: There are barriers to opioid availability and access in Colombia, related to the existing structure for guaranteeing equitable supply. From the perspective of healthcare providers, problems related to pharmacy availability, prescription and cost of medicines hinder pain treatment.

scholarly journals Reluctance to Accept Palliative Care and Recommendations for Improvement: Findings From Semi-Structured Interviews With Patients and Caregivers

2021 ◽  
pp. 104990912110126
Author(s):  
Valeria Cardenas ◽  
Anna Rahman ◽  
Yujun Zhu ◽  
Susan Enguidanos
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Palliative Care Services

Background: Despite some insurance plans now paying for home-based palliative care, recent reports have suggested that insurance coverage for palliative care may be insufficient in expanding patient access to home-based palliative care. Aim: To identify patients’ and caregivers’ perceived barriers to home-based palliative care and their recommendations for overcoming these barriers. Design: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured individual interviews. Our interview protocol elicited participants’ perspectives on home-based palliative care services; positive and negative aspects of the palliative program explanation; and suggestions for improving messaging around home-based palliative care. Setting/Participants: Twenty-five participants (patients, proxies, and their caregivers) who were eligible for a randomized controlled trial of home-based palliative care were interviewed by telephone. Results: Themes related to home-based palliative care referral barriers included reluctance to have home visits, enrollment timing, lack of palliative care knowledge, misconceptions about palliative care, and patients’ self-perceived health condition. Themes related to recommendations for overcoming these obstacles included ensuring that palliative care referrals come from healthcare providers or insurance companies and presenting palliative care services more clearly. Conclusion: Findings reinforce the need for additional palliative care education among patients with serious illness (and their caregivers) and the importance of delivering palliative care information and referrals from trusted sources.

scholarly journals Which health-related reasons lead to prehospital emergency care and how does subjective emergency status connect to subsequent care?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Piedmont ◽  
Anna Katharina Reinhold ◽  
Jens-Oliver Bock ◽  
Enno Swart ◽  
Bernt-Peter Robra
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Emergency Care ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Prehospital Emergency Care ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Prehospital Emergency ◽  
Health Insurance Companies ◽  
Reported Data

Abstract Objectives/Background In many countries, the use of emergency medical services (EMS) increases steadily each year. At the same time, the percentage of life-threatening complaints decreases. To redesign the system, an assessment and consideration of the patients’ perspectives is helpful. Methods We conducted a paper-based survey of German EMS patients who had at least one case of prehospital emergency care in 2016. Four health insurance companies sent out the questionnaire to 1312 insured persons. We linked the self-reported data of 254 respondents to corresponding claims data provided by their health insurance companies. The analysis focuses a.) how strongly patients tend to call EMS for themselves and others given different health-related scenarios, b.) self-perceived health complaints in their own index case of prehospital emergency care and c.) subjective emergency status in combination with so-called “objective” characteristics of subsequent EMS and inpatient care. We report principal diagnoses of (1) respondents, (2) 57,240 EMS users who are not part of the survey and (3) all 20,063,689 inpatients in German hospitals. Diagnoses for group 1 and 2 only cover the inpatient stay that started on the day of the last EMS use in 2016. Results According to the survey, the threshold to call an ambulance is lower for someone else than for oneself. In 89% of all cases during their own EMS use, a third party called the ambulance. The most common, self-reported complaints were pain (38%), problems with heart and circulation (32%), and loss of consciousness (17%). The majority of respondents indicated that their EMS use was due to an emergency (89%). We could detect no or only weak associations between patients’ subjective urgency and different items for objective care. Conclusion Dispatchers can possibly optimize or reduce the disposition of EMS staff and vehicles if they spoke directly to the patients more often. Nonetheless, there is need for further research on how strongly the patients’ perceived urgency may affect the disposition, rapidness of the service and transport targets.

scholarly journals Thriving in a changing world – opportunities and challenges for private health insurance companies

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2018/1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Private Health Insurance ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Insurance Market ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Health Insurance Companies ◽  
Health Insurance Market

The health insurance market in Poland reflects global trends – such as the rising awareness of personal health impact on quality of life. As a consequence, the health insurance market has seen substantial growth during the last years, which is forecasted to continue at over 20 percent more than life or P&C insurance globally. However, private health insurance has not yet unlocked its full potential.

scholarly journals Day Surgery Development Aspects in Slovakia

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 477
Author(s):  
Beáta Gavurová ◽  
Adela Klepáková ◽  
Ladislava Ivančová
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Day Surgery ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Insurance Companies

The day surgery is a highly effective tool for providing health care which has been used in Slovakia only for the last decade. The unified system of payment for inpatient or outpatient (day care) surgeries causes the reduction of health insurance companies´ spending. Incorrectly configured and economically demotivating system of refunding is a cause of lagging behind the European average in utilization of day surgery. Without the evaluation of day surgery it is not possible to link the progress in the social sphere, which leads to the restriction of day surgery availability for some social groups and thus the subsequent stagnation of day surgery in Slovakia. This contribution presents a pilot study conducted in Slovakia and its partial findings focused on the development and trends in the implementation of day surgery in order to increase the efficiency healthcare system.

scholarly journals Development of medical insurance in the Russian Federation. At the crossroads. What's next?

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor M. Akulin ◽  
Lubov Yu. Zhiguleva
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
National Health ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Health Insurance System ◽  
National Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance Companies ◽  
Compulsory Health Insurance ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Additional Payment

The RF health care reform is gaining momentum. A thorough consideration should be given to the discussion on the need to exclude health insurance companies from the compulsory health insurance system (CHI). Formation of the National Health Care System of Russia is the main problem of the national health care at this stage of reforms. Additional payment for medical services in the CHI by the general public is not advisable. Changes in the regulatory framework of the CHI system is deemed to be the basis for reforming the system of compulsory and voluntary health insurance in Russia.   

Extending the Boundaries of Medicine

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 263-263
Author(s):  
R J H
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
England Journal ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
New England ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
National Institutes Of Health ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Core Content ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
Health Insurance Companies

Readers may be surprised to see the article "Separation or Synthesis: A Holistic Approach to Therapeutics" in this issue. There are no core content statements related to this article. Yet, from time to time, I exercise my editorial prerogative to publish something that is outside the usual—to stimulate, to look ahead to what may be important in the future, and to provoke our readers. There is a great deal of interest today in alternative medicine. An article in The New England Journal of Medicine reports that nearly one third of Americans use some form of alternative medical therapy.1 There is now an Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health supporting grants in this field, and some health insurance companies recently began providing (for an added premium) coverage for these therapies.

New options for surgeons to improve malnutrition in the outpatient setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Perioperative Period ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Surgical Patients ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Negative Factor ◽  
Health Insurance Companies ◽  
Limited Period

Malnutrition is a significant negative factor for surgical patients in the entire perioperative period. However, this factor can be controlled and is easy to detect in the outpatient setting. Starting from May 1, 2020, surgeons have the possibility to prescribe sipping under certain conditions for a limited period of 4 weeks. Thereby they have become able to strongly impact any altered nutritional status both preoperatively and postoperatively. The authors describe scoring questionnaires used for the detection of malnutrition and required by health insurance companies. Additionally, prescribing conditions and potential mistakes in the outpatient setting are analysed.

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