Suchergebnisse

This paper reviews current issues in health care policy and reform in Croatia. It analyses the microeconomic foundations of health care (characteristics of health as an essential good, market and government failures in allocation of health care services); the role of health care in the process of European Union accession; the status of health care in Croatia (health status of the population, demographic trends, health care resources); microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects of
health care financing; and recent reform proposals for the health care sector. On this basis a number of recommendations for health care reform in Croatia are formulated. The proposals refer to financial sustainability of health care in the medium and long term; the mix of general taxes and mandatory health insurance contributions as sources of public funding; the mix of public and private funding; the impact of different financing instruments on the operations of health care providers; labour market effects of different financing methods; and the political economy of health care reform.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals appoint that all Member States have agreed to try to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030. This includes financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines for all. The World Health Organisation has defined the Universal Health Coverage as a priority, which means that all people can use the preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health care services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship. The classic approach of the unmet medical needs is defined as the total self-reported unmet needs for medical care for the following three reasons: financial barriers, waiting times, too far to travel. According to the Eurostat data, overall range of unmet medical needs in Latvia is the highest of the European Union countries, however, the accessibility of health services depends on a multitude of factors that relate to the health system and also to the patients themselves. Therefore the Multi-criteria decision analysis approach could be acceptable for assessment of the unmet medical needs. The data on unmet medical needs for Latvia should be additionally evaluated, taking into account the "therapeutic need", which refers to the need for a better treatment than the treatment currently reimbursed, from the perspective of the patient. Apart from therapeutic need, the concept of societal need should be investigated, which refers to the need for a better treatment than the currently available treatment for societal reasons.

The subject of the analysis presented in this article is the legal context and political debates regarding access of illegal migrants to health care assistance and institutions of public health. Consequences of non-regulated legal status significantly impair or even deny illegal migrants the most basic access to medical care. The main condition of entitlement to specialized medical care is legal residence within a state in accordance with its legal provisions. Fearing a growth in illegal migration and increased expenditure, EU countries are not interested in extending social benefits to irregular migrants. Fearing deportation, dismissal from work and the enormous costs of private health care, they usually do not ask for professional medical assistance. By analyzing the most important health risks for migrants the author has also highlighted the current legal and political debates on this issue. Lawful residence based on migration status and rules governing the welfare state must be coordinated with migrants' access to health care on the basis of universality and non-discrimination. In many EU countries such as Sweden and Denmark, the right of undocumented migrants to free emergency care and more advanced health care is restricted and may be subject to payment. Examining international treaties and explanatory documents from the Council of Europe and the United Nations, I try to analyze relevant international laws affecting several groups of undocumented migrants concerning the right to health and access to health care institutions. This article also highlights activities undertaken in recent years by NGOs with the aim of establishing access to health for undocumented migrants in EU countries and placing this issue on the international agenda.

The authors are part of a growing international movement who are committed to developing a wider understanding of dementia and the associated needs of those with the various conditions that fall under the broad umbrella of this diagnosis. As can be seen from the various contributions in this edited collection, this needs to also embrace an understanding of the demands and situations of those caring for people with dementia. In an increasingly globalised world this book aims to provide a comparative understanding of the delivery and organization of dementia services in various European states. We have brought together academics and practitioners from various parts of Europe and from a range of disciplines to contribute to this book.

This chapter examines the situation of individuals providing unpaid support or care for persons suffering from poor health, disability or age-related frailty during the Covid-19 pandemic. The following questions are addressed: Did more people provide support or care for others during the first Covid-19 wave than before the pandemic, or was there a decline? Was there a change in who was being cared for? Did care-givers' well-being change? Did care-givers wish for more help and support during the first Covid-19 wave?

In a 1.5-hour workshop, we used drawing and self-reflection prompts to facilitate a value-driven discussion of personal and institutional data practices. Activities included mark-making in time with one's heartbeat, creating an inventory of one's personal data, and creating a qualitative personal health visualization. This article details the workshop structure and exercises and includes a summary of the discussion, which constructively encompassed both the empowering and the uncomfortable aspects of digital health data collection in a constructive manner. The workshop's design used the format of hands-on, expressive drawing activities to enable participants to achieve depth and breadth in a relatively short discussion about personal health, data autonomy, institutional trust, and consent. Critical discourse about data, especially health data, is a valuable experience for every person whose health data has been or is being collected; and approaches that take personal data as a starting point can support the practice of digital/data sovereignty more broadly.

Activities of daily living are usually defined as skills needed in typical daily self-care. Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are more complex skills beyond basic self-care, and their measurement evaluates how individuals function in their homes, workplaces, and outdoor environments. The skills that pertain to IADLs are exposed to dysfunctions resulting from aging or illness. Reductions in those skills may begin to cause problems with independence but these problems can be solved with the help of others - for example, family members, social workers, and nurses.

Measurement of ability or inability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) is important to in describing the functional status of a person and then implementing an intervention. Evaluations of ADLs are mainly used in nursing and in rehabilitation of people with disabilities and the elderly. Measuring ability to perform ADLs is crucial for the management of healthcare in aging societies. It is important to understand differences between categories of ADLs and challenges in their evaluation that are connected to the roles of family members.

Since Summer 1995, a pilot project on patient's card is running in Neuwied/ Germany (Pilot Project Patient's Card Koblenz/ Neuwied). From February till March 1997 we carried out a telephone survey among local patients groups in Koblenz and Neuwied. The main aim of the survey was to find out, what do the patients groups know regarding the patient's card in general and regarding the local pilot project - and what is their attitude towards it. The results of our survey should be of interest for the introduction of patient-related card systems, because serious deficits in the information policy of the project initiators became evident.

Digital twins are gaining attention in healthcare, especially in fields like hospital management, simulating surgeries, or providing personalized health. As digital replicas based on users' data, digital twins can inform citizens in-depth about their lifestyle, medical data, and biomedical data. Hence, there is the assumption that digital twins could facilitate preventative healthcare at home, bringing healthcare closer to citizens, yet there are underexamined ethical concerns. In this paper, we explore the ethics of digital twins based on citizens' perspectives on digital twins in healthcare via recent literature and research. Although digital twins have great potential, citizens have concerns about surveillance, data ownership, data accuracy, and personal and collective agency.

This chapter explores the extent to which selected writings of French philosopher Michel Serres and a health care model created by Brian Hodges in the UK can augment and inform the development of social informatics. The volume of Serres' output contrasts markedly with work devoted to Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains – Model. Since the concept of health is universal culturally, and informatics disciplines are emerging fields of practice characterised by indistinct boundaries in terms of theory, policy and practice, various ethnographic and cultural associations will be made. Placing Hodges' model and Serres' work together is not intended to suggest direct equivalence, other than the common themes this author intends to bring to the attention of the social informatics community. Central to the above, is the notion of holistic bandwidth, utilising Hodges' model as a tool to develop and disseminate socio-technical perspectives.