March 27, 2009

There is an emerging consensus that health reform must encompass ways to improve quality and value in the system, and one of the prime targets for reform is the way care is delivered. Some health care organizations have combined thoughtful use of technology and better use of personnel to improve preventive care and treatment of chronic disease, obtain better outcomes, and offer additional job satisfaction to their health care workforce. This briefing, sponsored by the Alliance, Kaiser Permanente and the AFL-CIO, explored ways to enhance a team approach to care.

National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)

Website: http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/hsr_project/home_proj.cfm

A free, online database of current HSR projects. HSRProj contains descriptions on more than 6,000 ongoing health services research projects funded by government and state agencies, foundations, and private organizations.

J P Ruger
J Epidemiol Community Health 2006;60:998–100

Website: http://jech.bmj.com

Article: http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/60/11/998?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=ruger&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&fdate=//&tdate=//&resourcetype=HWCIT,HWELTR

Background:

IMF International Monetary Fund
Working Paper No. 09/61: March 2009
Tsounta, Evridiki

Available online as PDF [37p.] at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp0961.pdf

“……Despite the increasing interest in universal health care, little is known about the optimal way to finance, design, and implement it. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing some general policy recommendations on this important issue. While most of the paper addresses the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries, its policy implications are applicable to any country.

a systematic review of methods and future research directions

Martin Strandberg-Larsen, PhD, MScPH, Unit of Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen,
Allan Krasnik, MD, MPH, PhD, Professor, Director of the MPH-programme, Unit of Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen,
International Journal of Integrated Care, 4 February 2009 - ISSN 1568-4156

Available online at : : http://www.ijic.org/?000411

We all like to talk about how much we use technology (hence all the posts and memos we've all written on our own sites about how to use Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

But how many of us have actually looked at the user experiences of Members of Congress, as they work through the highs and lows of social media in political office?

Or asked a Senator what it felt like to post the tweet heard around the country?

Now you can.

Why do rich countries spend so much on health, when evidence shows it doesn't make much difference to life expectancy?

Richard Smith
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 June 2008 11.00 BST

As countries get richer they spend more and more on healthcare. A congressional report (pdf) recently showed that the US might be spending 50% of its gross domestic product on health by 2082.

Could this happen in Britain? Is it possible or desirable?

This White Paper addresses the growing global challenges of dealing with the
devastating effects of increasing water scarcity and declining water quality. Across
the planet, in developing and developed regions alike, poor governance and
mismanagement of natural resources coupled with rising population growth,
increasing urbanization, and economic development have led to a growing
imbalance between water supply and demand. This imbalance is reaching crisis
proportions in many regions. It will have even more significant consequences for

By SCOTT HAIG – Thu Mar 5, 12:15 pm ET
If the cheerleaders - including the one in the Oval Office - are right, computerized medical records will save us all: save jobs, save money, reduce errors, and transform health care as we know it. In a January speech, President Obama evoked the promise of new technology: This will cut waste, eliminate red tape and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests," he said, and he has proposed investing $50 billion over the next five years to help make it happen.

From: "CORE CS Community Listserv"
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 12:57:14 -0500
To:
Subject: Zimbabwe Has Thirty Strains Of Cholera | How cholera inspired my book: the cholera epidemic which swept Britain in the 19th century
From: Campbell, Dan (GH/HIDN/ID) [mailto:dcampbell@usaid.gov]

These and other recent cholera updates can be viewed on the Environmental Health at USAID CholeraGroup
at: http://groups.google.com/group/cholera-control
1 - Zimbabwe Has Thirty Strains Of Cholera

Crunch Time for Fixing Health Care

By Ruth Marcus
Sunday, March 22, 2009; Page A15
You wouldn't know it from the headlines, but it's crunch time on health-care reform. In a series of high-level meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill, critical decisions are being made that will help decide whether the comprehensive health reform that has eluded policymakers for decades finally comes to fruition -- and what the system will look like for decades.

Action on Health Disparities in the United States
Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Michael G. Marmot, FRCP; Ruth Bell, PhD
International Institute for Society and Health and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Dr Marmot was chair of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2005-2008.
Dr Bell is a senior research fellow at University College London and was a member of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health Secretariat