Timing of surgery for hip fracture and in-hospital mortality: a retrospective population-based cohort study in the Spanish National Health System

Background  

While the benefits or otherwise of early hip fracture repair is a long-running controversy with studies showing contradictory results, this practice is being adopted as a quality indicator in several health care organizations. The aim of this study is to analyze the association between early hip fracture repair and in-hospital mortality in elderly people attending public hospitals in the Spanish National Health System and, additionally, to explore factors associated with the decision to perform early hip fracture repair.     

从字义内涵角度剖析我国假药定义

本文结合药物制度研究与汉语言分析方法,从字义和产品内涵角度分析假药的定义,并结合我国现行法律制度对假药界定条款进行法条解析.本文研究认为“假”和“药”分别具有不同的内涵,目前从法律角度定义的假药概念是不完善的.建议应在现有假药定义基础上进行完善,同时结合字义内涵和立法目的对假药进行分类,并提出法条修改建议,为《药品管理法》的修订提供参考,以期合理完善假药定义,促进医药政策与产业健康发展.     

The possibilities for the participation of local corporations in the management of health services]

Strategies that stimulate the involvement of the community in the National Health System would provide more important role for the city councils in the management and control of public health care. This has currently proven to be difficult due to a new centralism at the Autonomous Community level. In this paper, recent collaborative experiences between municipalities and the National Health System are reviewed. Also, different ways for stimulating a real involvement of city councils in the health care are suggested: from managing new facilities and controlling existing facilities at the primary health care level, to a deep, not merely administrative, inclusion of the local health services into the National Health System.     

Health technology assessment in Spain

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 established a healthcare system available to everyone and free at the point of service. The General Health Law of 1986 also established the framework for a National Health System (NHS). The Constitution and the law form the regulatory framework for the devolution of healthcare services to the Autonomous Regions. All the 17 Autonomous Regions have complete power regarding public health and planning. However, responsibilities on healthcare financing, organization, provision, and management have devolved to only seven Autonomous Regions. Financial support for health services comes mostly from taxes. Global budgets are a mechanism used by hospitals to control the acquisition of medium and low health technology. Major capital investments for health technology are controlled by the central government in 10 Autonomous Regions (population coverage of 38%) and by the Regional Health Services in the seven remaining Autonomous Regions. In 1995 a regulation for basing the introduction of new procedures and medical equipment on the assessment of safety, efficacy, and efficiency was issued. Health technology assessment (HTA) has a long history in Spain, beginning with the Advisory Board on High Technology in the government of Catalonia in 1984. This board evolved into the Catalan Agency for HTA (CAHTA) in 1994. The Basque Country established a unit for HTA in 1992 (Osteba) and the Andalusian government created an agency in 1996 (AETSA). A national agency for HTA (AETS) was established in 1994. These different programs coordinate their work and together act as an Advisory Committee of the Interregional Council of the NHS.     

A comparison of the health status and health care utilization patterns between foreigners and the national population in Spain: New evidence from the Spanish National Health Survey

The increasing proportion of immigrants in Spanish society is placing pressure on the National Health Care System to accommodate the needs of this population group while keeping costs under control. In the year 2000, a law was approved in Spain according to which all people, regardless of their nationality, are entitled to use health care services under the same conditions as Spanish citizens, provided that they are registered in the local population census. However, empirical evidence about differences in health status and health care utilization between the immigrant and the Spanish population is insufficient. This paper uses the 2003 and 2006 Spanish National Health Surveys to explore the existence of inequalities in health and in the access to health services for the immigrant population living in Spain, relative to that of Spaniards. Our results show that there are different patterns in the level of health and the medical care use between the national and the foreign population in Spain: while immigrants' self-reported health relative to that of the Spanish population depends upon individual nationality, all immigrants, regardless of their nationality, seem to face barriers of entry to specialized care. Further research is needed to understand the nature of these barriers in order to design more effective health policies.     

医疗卫生服务创新与公立医院改革

本文通过镇江对新医疗保险制度和公立医院改革进行了分析,希望这次医改对将来中国医疗卫生事业起到指导作用。镇江的医改目的是针对提高医疗服务质量来改善医疗卫生供需,谋求卫生事业有效和持续性的发展。通过对镇江医疗改革的分析和讨论来探索医保制度和公立医院改革的新路,挖掘领导和管理职能在医疗卫生体系中的重要作用。最后,根据镇江卫生改革现状,对医改的发展方向和医院科学管理进行了总结,并为我国的医疗卫生改革顺利完成提出了建设性的意见。     

Los servicios de salud pública: una lectura de los informes disponibles

The objective of this study is to analyze the performance of regional public health services in Spain using the information accessible in their annual reports. A search of these was conducted, and 9 were obtained from the 17 Autonomous Communities. Their analysis shows some variation in the structure of the organizations providing public health services, as well as in the published contents and in the indicators used for management. The service portfolio, annual objectives and resources allocated are not always detailed. If the evaluation of public services and its dissemination are basic for transparency and quality management, there is much room for improvement. The compilation of annual reports by public health services is not systematic, and those that exist provide insufficient information for a comparative analysis of their activity, effectiveness and efficiency.     

Implementing total quality management in the health care industry

Health care organizations across the nation have begun instituting quality improvement programs in order to meet the demands of improving service and clinical quality in health care. The implementation process requires time, effort, and money in order for the health care organizations to learn who their customers are and what they want. The results, which sometimes are not recognized until after a two- to three-year period, include reduced costs by cutting waste and complexity and by doing things right the first time. Still, there are many challenges in adapting total quality management (TQM) to public organizations such as the health care industry. This article discusses the founding principles of TQM and how they are applied in implementing TQM to enhance quality in health care organizations. This article also forecasts the future of TQM implementation in public health care.     

A personal balance of 25 years of modern health care management in the Spanish Public Health System

At the beginning of 2002, the transference of authority over public health care services from the Spanish national health System (INSALUD) to all the autonomous communities hitherto lacking this authority closed a period of modern halthcare management in Spain which, nevertheless, had lacked the dynamism and innovative capacity of business management. Despite this, during these 25 years, Spanish healthcare management underwent a spectacular growth.The problems of the Spanish public health system are either linked to the inherent problems of a system of universal coverage, with generous provisions and clear underfinancing, or they are characteristic of an obsolete organizational model in which centers and healthcare professionals lack autonomy, or they are related to users' increased expectations and to the enormous complexity of the medicine of the future. All these questions should be approached from the perspective of a new form of management appropriate to the new century.Despite its serious defects and problems, the public values the Spanish public health system; the main risk is chronic and progressive delegitimization wich causes users to lose faith and trust in the public health system.     

Pattern of health services use by immigrants from different regions of the world residing in Spain

Objective

To determine immigrants?? frequency of use of four health services by place of origin and compare it with that of the Spanish population.

Methods

Based on the 2006 National Health Survey in Spain, we estimated the frequency of use of four health services in men and women from: Spain, Western countries, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa and Asia/Oceania. These results were compared with the Spanish population by calculating odds ratios adjusted for age, socioeconomic position, health status, and type of health coverage.

Results

Immigrant men generally use health services less frequently than Spanish nationals. The main exceptions are Latin American men, who more often use emergency services (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.41?C1.99) and Sub-Saharan men, who use specialists more frequently (OR 2.93, 1.70?C5.05). Immigrant women use health services about as frequently as Spanish women. The main exceptions are North African women, who less frequently use specialists (OR 0.39, 0.22?C0.71) and Sub-Saharan women who more frequently use GPs (OR 4.06, 2.21?C7.44), specialists (OR 2.29, 1.06?C4.95) and emergency services (OR 2.92, 1.49?C5.72).

Conclusions

Health services use by the immigrant population in Spain differs by gender and place of origin.     

Organization, functioning and expectations of organizations representing patients. Survey of key informants

OBJECTIVES: To explore patient organizations and their scope in terms of patient and user participation in decisions affecting their health. METHODS: Semi-structured questionnaire survey of key informants from 21 patient organizations. RESULTS: Most of the patient organizations were regional or national private organizations. Their main objectives include improving quality of life and representing the interests of patients and their families, developing information triage and dissemination activities, and providing additional services not offered by the public health service. The main methods of communicating with members were electronic mail, open meetings and forums. Most patient organizations considered health professionals to be the most important group of stakeholders. The sources of funding most frequently quoted were membership fees, public grants and contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. The most important factor for enhancing patient co-responsibility was considered to be involving patients in health care as a way to improve the quality of the heath services. The proposed future scenario that received the most support was the creation of a legal forum in which the patient's voice could be heard and demonstrably taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: Patient organizations can play an important role in providing patients and health professionals with information, promoting self care and improving the effectiveness of health care. These features require visible commitment by the health authorities to facilitate opportunities for patient decisions and choice within the system.     

Health Related Lifestyle and Preventive Medical Care of Rural Spanish Women Compared to Their Urban Counterparts

The objective of this work is to study the differences in health related behavior, habits and preventive health care attendance between women living in rural areas and their metropolitan counterparts in Spain. We analyzed health related behavior (such as leisure time physical activity, smoking, alcohol use and other health related dietary patterns) and preventive medical attendance (gynecological attendance, mammography frequency, flu vaccinations, cholesterol and blood pressure checks) in a total of 17,833 women older than 16 from the Spanish National Health Survey 2006. A multinomial logistic regression model was employed to compare groups (adjusted for age and social class). The main findings of this study is that the likelihood of receiving and attending to preventive public health care services was significantly lower for women in medium-sized urban or rural and remote locations than those living in metropolitan areas, as well as differences in health-related lifestyle behaviours.     

我国基本公共卫生服务标准化现状分析暨均等化的标准化策略初探

通过对基本公共卫生服务工作标准现状与基本公共卫生服务均等化项目和首批国家基本公共服务标准化试点项目的系统分析,了解我国基本公共卫生服务标准化的现状,探讨提出实现基本公共卫生服务均等化的标准化策略建议。收集国家基本公共卫生服务上述3个方面的内容,并将公共卫生标准与《国家基本公共卫生服务规范（第三版）》所包含的14项规范和《关于开展国家基本公共服务标准化试点工作的通知》中所包含的51项国家基本公共服务标准化试点项目进行系统比较。现行公共卫生标准基本符合国家基本公共卫生服务项目中的居民健康档案管理服务规范工作需要。然而,其余13项规范以及国家基本公共服务标准化试点项目中的公共卫生项目对应的公共卫生标准不健全或缺失。现行公共卫生领域标准与实施国家基本公共卫生服务项目存在较大差距。在实现基本公共卫生均等化的进程中,亟需根据基本公共卫生服务项目的相关内容,制定与之相配套的公共卫生领域标准,助推基本公共卫生服务均等化。     

Palliative care in cancer: elements for debating the guidelines

The aim of this study was to present elements for debating guidelines on palliative care programs for cancer. A literature survey searched various databases (MEDLINE, LILACS, and Cochrane Library), homepages of palliative care organizations, publications by renowned authors in this area, reference textbooks on the subject, relevant articles cited by these books, and the thesis/dissertation database of CAPES (the Brazilian Coordinating Body for Training University Level Personnel). The data were grouped into four thematic categories: symptomatic palliation, organization of services, psychosocial characteristics, and spiritual characteristics. The article then proceeds to discuss cancer as a public health problem and its impact on individuals, the concept of palliative care and its context in health care, program models and their guidelines, death and dying, and care and caregivers. The study concludes by discussing the challenges for the Brazilian National Health System in structuring end-of-life programs as a consequence of the population's aging and increasing cancer incidence.     

Waiting lists in public systems: from expanding supply to timely access? Reflections on Spain's National Health System

The paper discusses the issue of waiting times based on a study of Spain's National Health System (Sistema Nacional de Salud, SNS), focusing on the national context, management issues and local practices. Observation visits and interviews with health personnel and managers conducted in the metropolitan areas of the Autonomous Communities of Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia and Basque Country were complemented by secondary data and a review of the literature. There is unanimity as to the positive results of the SNS, but cutting waiting times seems to be one key aspect requiring improvement. Two directions were identified for complementary measures: guaranteed maximum waiting times in the macro-social sphere associated with local measures to increase service integration and primary care resolution rates. The peculiarities of the Spanish decentralisation process and the existence of economic, political and health profession corporate interests were mentioned as factors hampering waiting list regulation, transparency and management. A comprehensive approach to this issue shows the need to shift discussion from waiting list monitoring and/or expanded supply to guaranteed timely access. That is the quality differential that primary care-oriented systems must bring to public health systems.     

Health services management challenges in theory and practice

This article deals with the management of health services and organizations, focusing on knowledge as an action resource, which turns into a source of autonomy, authority and power for subjects in the context of their practices. The movement towards the consolidation of the Single Health System (SUS) gives rise to the challenge of "adapting" health workers to its principles and guidelines, establishing instruments such as service management with a view to the reorganization of the health work process. In hospital management, the concept of "ambience" was adopted to understand and reorganize hospital functionality, highlighting the physical and technological space, in view of the fact that these elements cannot be constituted without the intermedation of the social and affectual.     

基层基本公共卫生服务项目管理工作探讨

基本公共卫生服务项目的推行,对促进基本公共卫生服务均等化的实现具有重要意义。基层单位作为公共卫生服务的主体,其服务能力直接影响卫生服务项目的实现,因此基本公共卫生服务管理工作需要落实到基层。基本公共卫生相关服务项目管理工作顺利开展,不仅能够提升基层公共卫生单位管理质量,而且能够有效为基层相关卫生服务单位获得良好社会及管理效益。但是现阶段在实际的基层基本卫生服务项目管理工作中,相关管理工作仍然存在部分问题。为进一步提升基层基本公共卫生服务项目管理水平,该文旨在分析基本公共卫生服务项目的现状,并提出解决问题的方法,通过从项目管理工作需要面向基层单位以及合理利用各种资源和平台的方式,最终达到提高基层单位项目工作管理质量,以及服务项目取得良好的管理效果和社会效益的目的 。     

La privatización de la gestión sanitaria: efecto secundario de la crisis y síntoma de mal gobierno. Informe SESPAS 2014

It is often asserted that public management of healthcare facilities is inefficient. On the basis of that unproven claim, it is argued that privatization schemes are needed. In this article we review the available evidence, in Spain and other countries, on the application of private management mechanisms to publicly funded systems similar to the Spanish national health system. The evidence suggests that private management of healthcare services is not necessarily better than public management, nor vice versa. Ownership—whether public or private—of health care centers does not determine their performance which, on the contrary, depends on other factors, such as the workplace culture or the practice of suitable monitoring by the public payer. Promoting competition among centers (irrespective of the specific legal form of the management arrangements), however, could indeed lead to improvements under some circumstances. Therefore, it is advisable to cease the narrow-minded debate on the superiority of one or other model in order to focus on improving healthcare services management per se. Understanding that good governance affects health policies, the management of health care organizations, and clinical practice is, undoubtedly, an essential requirement but may not necessarily lead to policies that stimulate the solvency of the system.     

潍坊市普及基本医疗卫生制度支付方式改革实践

文章介绍了潍坊市普及基本医疗卫生制度实验研究支付方式改革的实践及经验。实验研究针对不同的卫生服务内容及其经济学特性,进行了相关的支付方式改革探索：门诊服务由按服务项目支付转变为政府按人头支付和按诊次支付;大病及住院服务则进行了单病种的按人头付费和总额预付制的探索;公共卫生服务则由政府以＂购买服务＂的形式实行按人头支付。