What's in a name?

How should an integrated health care network sell itself? Four very different systems talk it over with the president of the American Hospital Association's Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development.     

Long-term contracts in the NHS: a solution in search of a problem?

Purchasers and providers in the National Health Service (NHS) are now required to move from annual contracting cycles to longer-term contracts. The benefits are expected to include more efficient investment and improved sharing of financial risk. This paper argues that the economic analysis of longer-term contracts has assumed implicitly that agents operate in the private sector. Once the constraints of the public sector are introduced, the apparent economic benefits of longer-term contracts become doubtful. The paper explores these issues using evidence collected from analysis of the contracts of a sample of Health Authorities and from semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the contracting process. We conclude that with the property rights and financial structure of the public sector, the move from short- to long-term contracts is unlikely to produce the improvements in performance expected by the government.     

“Sleeping in a boundary” constructing the meaning of health in a refugee camp

Sociopolitical discourses surrounding refugee migration and resettlement are characterized by divisiveness, assumptions, and fear. When these discussions are grounded in the narratives of women refugees a deeper understanding of issues impacting health, family, and resilience emerges. We examine how 26 Karen women living in camps along the Thai-Burma border construct meaning around health, in relation to livelihoods. Through directed content analysis, themes emerged: precursors to achieving health, health and livelihoods, and position and agency. Women identified barriers and facilitators to health, identified a dynamic relationship between health and livelihoods, and described their position and agency in the systems they navigate.     

Do Nuts Have a Place in a Healthful Diet?

A wealth of nutrition information has been published during the past decade on the healthful nature of nuts. As nut consumption increases, cardiovascular disease risk decreases. This cardioprotective effect of nut consumption is beyond what would be predicted from the fatty acid profile alone. Nuts are a rich source of many other nutrients and bioactive compounds, similar to other whole-plant foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Additional studies during the next decade will delineate additional healthful nutrients of these foods.