Suchergebnisse

Since 1975, Rhode Island has operated a government-sponsored catastrophic health insurance program that is consistent in spirit with several of the national health insurance proposals. An important but often overlooked effect of such a program is its effect on the distribution of income. Actual claims data for the years 1975-79 are available for the Rhode Island program permitting direct estimation of an average benefit per family and an average tax burden per family in each of 12 income classes. This permits an assessment of the program's redistributional effects.

Primary care (PC) is a strong determinant of overall health care. Children make up around a fifth of the population of the European Union and European Economic Area and have their own needs and uptake of PC. However, there is little research into how well PC services address their needs. There are large differences in childhood mortality and morbidity patterns in the EU and EEA countries, and there has been a major epidemiological shift in the past half century from predominantly communicable disease, to non-communicable diseases presenting and increasingly managed in PC. This increase in multifactorial morbidities, such as obesity and learning disability, has led to the need for PC systems to adapt to accommodate these changes. Europe presents a challenging picture of unexplained variation in health care delivery and style and of children's different health experiences and health-related behaviour. The Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) project aimed to describe the PC systems in detail, analyse their components and appraise them from a number of different viewpoints, including professional, public, political and economic lenses. It did this through nine work packages supported by a core management team, and a network of national agents, individuals in each MOCHA country who had the expertise in research and knowledge of their national health care system to answer a wide range of questions posed by the MOCHA scientific teams.

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) was a wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary and multi-method study that aimed to identify the best models of provision of primary care for the children of the European Union. The research has identified two main conclusions: (1) The depth of interdependency of health, economy and society. Primary care needs to be an active partner in public debate about current child health concerns. It should orientate more effectively in addressing wider societal influences on child health through advocacy and collaborative intersectoral public health approaches with those agencies responsible for public and community health if it is to address effectively issues such as childhood obesity, mental health and vaccine hesitancy. As part of this, it needs to address its workforce composition and skills, not least in two-way communication. (2) The European Community has many visions and commitments to children and child health policies, but their effectiveness is largely unfulfilled. The Commission can strengthen its impact on children's health and healthcare services within current remits and resources by focusing on a number of key fields: planned and structured research, providing insight into optimal human resources and skills in child primary care, developing and using ethical means of listening to children's views, remedying the invisibility of children in data, measuring the quality of primary care from a child-centric perspective, understanding the economics of investing in children's health, developing e-health standards and evaluation, collaborative and harmonised use of downloaded research databases, understanding and respecting children's rights and equity, and appreciating and allowing for children's evolving autonomy as they grow up. An optimal model of primary care for children is proactive, inclusive, corporately linked, based on and providing robust evidence, and respects the wider determinants of health and children's involvement in their health trajectory.

Background The ability to successfully transfer knowledge across international boundaries to improve health across the European Region is dependent on an in-depth understanding of the many factors involved in policy creation. Across countries we can observe various approaches to evidence usage in the policy-making process. This study, which was a part of the Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) project assessing patterns of children's primary care in Europe, focused on how and what kind of evidence is used in child health policy-making processes in European countries and how it is applied to inform policy and practice. Method In this study, a qualitative approach was used. The data were analysed in accordance with the thematic analysis protocol. The MOCHA project methodology relies on experienced country agents (CA) recruited for the project and paid to deliver child health data in each of 30 European countries. CAs are national experts in the child health field who defined the country-specific structured information and data. A questionnaire designed as a semi-structured survey instrument asked CAs to indicate the sources of evidence used in the policy-making process and what needed to be in place to support evidence uptake in policy and practice. Results In our data we observed two approaches to evidence usage in child health policy formulation. The scientific approach in our understanding refers to the so-called bottom-up initiatives of academia which identify and respond to the population's needs. Institutional approaches can be informed by scientific resources as well; however, the driving forces here are governmental institutions, whose decisions and choices are based not only on the population needs but also on political, economic and organizational factors. The evidence used in Europe can also be of an external or internal nature. Various factors can affect the use of evidence in child health policy-making. Facilitators are correlated with strong scientific culture development, whereas barriers are ...

Whilst nations have overall responsibility for policies to protect and serve their populations, in many countries, health policy and policies for children are delegated to regions or other local administrations, which make it a challenging subject to explore at a national level. We sought to establish which countries had specific strategies for child and adolescent health care, and whether primary care, social care and the school–healthcare interface was described and planned for, within any policies that exist. In addition, we established the extent to which a child health strategy and meaningful reference to children's records and care delivery exist in an e-health context. Of concern in the Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) context is that 40% of European Union and European Economic Area countries had reported no health strategy for children, and more than a half had no reference to supporting delivery of children's health in their e-health strategy.

There is more to primary care than solely medical and nursing services. Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) explored the role of the professions of pharmacy, dental health and social care as examples of affiliate contributors to primary care in providing health advice and treatment to children and young people. Pharmacies are much used, but their value as a resource for children seems to be insufficiently recognised in most European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries. Advice from a pharmacist is invaluable, particularly because many medicines for children are only available off-label, or not available in the correct dose, access to a pharmacist for simple queries around certain health issues is often easier and quicker than access to a primary care physician or nursing service. Preventive dentistry is available throughout the EU and EEA, but there are few targeted incentives to ensure all children receive the service, and accessibility to dental treatment is variable, particularly for disabled children or those with specific health needs. Social care services are an essential part of health care for many extremely vulnerable children, for example those with complex care needs. Mapping social care services and the interaction with health services is challenging due to their fragmented provision and the variability of access across the EU and EEA. A lack of coherent structure of the health and social care interface requires parents or other family members to navigate complex systems with little assistance. The needs of pharmacy, dentistry and social care are varied and interwoven with needs from each other and from the healthcare system. Yet, because this inter-connectivity is not sufficiently recognised in the EU and EEA countries, there is a need for improvement of coordination and with the need for these services to focus more fully on children and young people.

Children's rights to autonomy of choice are differently expressed throughout Europe. We explored differences regarding expressions of respect for children's autonomy throughout Europe, using the procedure of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offer as indicator. We used a mixed methods approach, utilizing an expert survey within the frame of "Models of Child Health Appraised" (MOCHA), among all 30 European Union (EU) and European Economic Area states. A questionnaire was designed using vignettes regarding the vaccine provision. Thirty MOCHA country agents were invited to respond from June 2017 to April 2018. In total, 28 country agents responded. We studied the following themes: (i) provision of informed consent, (ii) parental and medical paternalism, (iii) relevance of the child's chronological age or maturity, and (iv) vaccination programs targeting boys. These are being handled differently across the region. We explored associations of these implemented practices with the national vaccine coverage rate across Europe. We used the processes of HPV vaccination to study child's autonomy, the paradigm change toward libertarian paternalism and issues of sex-equity. Interestingly, greater respect for children's autonomy tends to be associated with medium or high vaccination coverage rates and lower respect with lower rates. Respect and empowerment seem to have practical as well as moral benefits. Identifying and transferring the most suitable ethical approaches is crucial and should be strengthened.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based policies should underpin successful implementation of innovations within child health care. The EU-funded Models of Child Health Appraised project enabled research into effective methods to communicate research evidence. The objective of this study was to identify and categorize methods to communicate evidence-based research recommendations and means to tailor this to stakeholder audiences. METHODS: We conducted an online survey among national stakeholders in child health. Analysis of the most effective strategies to communicate research evidence and reach the target audience was carried out in order to ensure implementation of optimal child health care models at a national level. RESULTS: Representatives of stakeholders from 21 of the then 30 EU MS and EEA countries responded to the questionnaire. Three main approaches in defining the strategies for effective communication of research recommendations were observed, namely: dissemination of information, involvement of stakeholders and active attitude towards change expressed in actions. The target audience for communicating recommendations was divided into two layers: proximal, which includes those who are remaining in close contact with the child, and distal, which contains those who are institutionally responsible for high quality of child health services. They should be recipients of evidence-based results communicated by different formats, such as scientific, administrative, popular and personal. CONCLUSIONS: Influential stakeholders impact the process of effective research dissemination and guide necessary actions to strengthen the process of effective communication of recommendations. Communication of evidence-based results should be targeted to each audience's profile, both professional and non-professionals, by adjusting appropriate communication formats.

Background: Evidence-based policies should underpin successful implementation of innovations within child health care. The EU-funded Models of Child Health Appraised project enabled research into effective methods to communicate research evidence. The objective of this study was to identify and categorize methods to communicate evidence-based research recommendations and means to tailor this to stakeholder audiences. Methods: We conducted an online survey among national stakeholders in child health. Analysis of the most effective strategies to communicate research evidence and reach the target audience was carried out in order to ensure implementation of optimal child health care models at a national level. Results: Representatives of stakeholders from 21 of the then 30 EU MS and EEA countries responded to the questionnaire. Three main approaches in defining the strategies for effective communication of research recommendations were observed, namely: dissemination of information, involvement of stakeholders and active attitude towards change expressed in actions. The target audience for communicating recommendations was divided into two layers: proximal, which includes those who are remaining in close contact with the child, and distal, which contains those who are institutionally responsible for high quality of child health services. They should be recipients of evidence-based results communicated by different formats, such as scientific, administrative, popular and personal. Conclusions: Influential stakeholders impact the process of effective research dissemination and guide necessary actions to strengthen the process of effective communication of recommendations. Communication of evidence-based results should be targeted to each audience's profile, both professional and non-professionals, by adjusting appropriate communication formats.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based policies should underpin successful implementation of innovations within child health care. The EU-funded Models of Child Health Appraised project enabled research into effective methods to communicate research evidence. The objective of this study was to identify and categorize methods to communicate evidence-based research recommendations and means to tailor this to stakeholder audiences. METHODS: We conducted an online survey among national stakeholders in child health. Analysis of the most effective strategies to communicate research evidence and reach the target audience was carried out in order to ensure implementation of optimal child health care models at a national level. RESULTS: Representatives of stakeholders from 21 of the then 30 EU MS and EEA countries responded to the questionnaire. Three main approaches in defining the strategies for effective communication of research recommendations were observed, namely: dissemination of information, involvement of stakeholders and active attitude towards change expressed in actions. The target audience for communicating recommendations was divided into two layers: proximal, which includes those who are remaining in close contact with the child, and distal, which contains those who are institutionally responsible for high quality of child health services. They should be recipients of evidence-based results communicated by different formats, such as scientific, administrative, popular and personal. CONCLUSIONS: Influential stakeholders impact the process of effective research dissemination and guide necessary actions to strengthen the process of effective communication of recommendations. Communication of evidence-based results should be targeted to each audience's profile, both professional and non-professionals, by adjusting appropriate communication formats.