Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Competitiveness as a factor of a company selling its services in the market is becoming more relevant in the healthcare sector. The number of institutions that offer their services to international patients is growing. Research shows that the development of medical tourism is country-specific. The main objective of this publication is to discover positive and negative factors for engagement in the provision of services to non-residents. The data was obtained from a cross-sectional study in which 86 managers of health care institutions in Latvia completed a questionnaire. A total of 80.2% of health care institutions had provided services to non-resident patients in the previous year while 19.8% did so regularly. Institutions mainly used websites to advertise their services. Only a small number of institutions employed a marketing specialist or had a strategy to attract non-resident patients. Heads of institutions pointed to a number of internal and external barriers in this connection, including lack of staff, low motivation, limited language skills, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient state-level support to promote the export of services, the social environment, and problems in the health system itself. The study revealed areas that need to be improved regarding future policies to attract non-resident patients and to increase global competitiveness.

This study was funded by the Gillings Fellowship in Global Public Health and Autism Research (Grant Award YOG054) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (grant agreement No. 777394). ; The Soviet occupation of the Baltic States followed by joining the United Nations (UN) and European Union make these countries an interesting point of comparison in the development of autism and education policy. This study investigates how policies changed following the transition and how the right and access to education are facilitated for autistic children by performing a path dependence analysis. All Baltic States created new education policies following the transition out of the Soviet era, with their accession to the UN and their appetite to follow internationally available guidance. The right to education for all children in was adopted in all education systems. Education facilities for children with disabilities were implemented in all countries. Afterward, all countries started toward the development of more inclusive systems. Nevertheless, the majority of policies did not specify for autism, yet covered special education needs in general. A development in Latvia should be noted, where various special education needs are outlined in national policy, along with provisions and professional assistance required to address them in mainstream or special classrooms. Ultimately, education policy flourished after the transition. Their development caught up to other European Union countries and they are currently working on implementing inclusive education.

The Soviet occupation of the Baltic States followed by joining the United Nations (UN) and European Union make these countries an interesting point of comparison in the development of autism and education policy. This study investigates how policies changed following the transition and how the right and access to education are facilitated for autistic children by performing a path dependence analysis. All Baltic States created new education policies following the transition out of the Soviet era, with their accession to the UN and their appetite to follow internationally available guidance. The right to education for all children in was adopted in all education systems. Education facilities for children with disabilities were implemented in all countries. Afterward, all countries started toward the development of more inclusive systems. Nevertheless, the majority of policies did not specify for autism, yet covered special education needs in general. A development in Latvia should be noted, where various special education needs are outlined in national policy, along with provisions and professional assistance required to address them in mainstream or special classrooms. Ultimately, education policy flourished after the transition. Their development caught up to other European Union countries and they are currently working on implementing inclusive education.