Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Last weekend, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) turned 70. NHS is a protocolical single payer system. Whereas Canada is a single payer system, provinces rather than the federal government makes most decisions and providers (i.e., hospitals and physicians) are private, for-profit businesses. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, both providers and health…
A number of studies have claimed that increased health expenditures may result in no better, or even worse outcomes. For instance, a paper by Fisher et al. (2003) looking at patients with acute myocardial infarction, colorectal cancer, or hip fracture finds that “Quality of care in higher-spending regions was no better on most measures and…
That is the claim made by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). Lisa Anson, who took over as ABPI president last week, told The Times that the financial squeeze on the NHS threatened the whole of Britain’s £30 billion life sciences sector as firms would reconsider working in the UK. ABPI asked for the…
I’m finishing my time in the UK today and head back home tomorrow. The British Society for Rheumatology 2017 conference was interesting, on the news the key headlines were pay for National Health Service employees, nurses in particular. Due to budget shortfalls, the NHS froze nurse pay between 2010 and 2012. Beginning in 2012, pay raises resumed…
Being sick in the United Kingdom has advantages and disadvantages. Supporters will cite that out-of-pocket costs are generally low, coverage is universal, and the price of health care to the government is lower. One question is, what is the quality of care received? Critics cite that access to cutting edge, innovative treatments is often restricted or…
Typical hours when illness strikes is 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. In the US, typical physician hours are 9-5, Monday through Friday. Although this is changing (CVS Minute Clinics have Saturday and Sunday hours), it is still difficult for individuals who are work and are ill to see a doctor without taking…
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is well known for providing free care to all its citizens. However, will £0 out-of-pocket payments be a thing of the past? Maybe so according to a recent survey of UK Members of Parliament (MPs). Pharmafile reports: In response to the question “if the challenges facing the NHS are…
General Practitioners (GPs) in the UK NHS are paid a mixture of capitation, lump sum allowances, and a pay-for-performance bonus. The P4P element, the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), rewards GPs according to their performance on a large number of indicators. QOF payments represented up to 20% of GPs ’ income in the first year…
What role do health economists at the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) play and how do they conduct their cost effectiveness analyses for new treatments? I answer this question today based on NICE’s own documents. According to their guidelines manual, the role of the health economist in clinical guideline development is to:…
Many liberals laud Europe’s government-run health care sectors as a model to emulate. In particular, Great Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) often is seen as the ideal single payer system. In reality, however, the British government itself does not supply all services. A study from the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) describes the gradual…