World Hospitals and Health Services : the Official Journal of the International Hospital Federation

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The focus of this paper is on the potential of public and private clinicians and researchers, working collaboratively with the Office of Health standards Compliance (OHSC) and other role players, to bring about enhanced quality and equity in health service provision.

This study investigated critical drivers in implementing quality health care strategies in the national referral hospitals in Kenya. The health service delivery system in Kenya is organized across six levels of care with the national referrals hospitals at the apex. The population of this study comprised two national referral hospitals in Kenya, namely Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Qualitative data analysis was done using one-tailed test to establish regression co-efficient at 95% confidence interval and qualitative data was subjected to content analysis...

Healthcare systems across the world are in need of innovations that can achieve more with less, for more people. African nations have always been good partners for high-income institutions as they develop and test new ideas. However, they are now at the forefront of developing novel approaches to healthcare, grounded in community-centered approaches, but which also capitalize on the potential of digital healthcare. African healthcare leaders should be bold in realizing their own potential, and leaders from high-income countries must be open to innovations emerging from non-traditional sources...

Available infrastructure, resources, and provided services in low-and middle-income countries differ significantly from high-income countries. In healthcare for example, the uneven distribution of health professionals and lack of human resources are real barriers to equitable access to quality health care and services in most developing countries and particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. As available resources are lower and infrastructure is les developed many services and tools that have been developed for a high-income context cannot be used or are not sustainably affordable in a low-income environment, which led to the development of tools and services that are affordable and appropriate for this context...

Mobile payment acceptance in healthcare is a relatively new area of research, under explored when compared to related areas of research such as mobile technology for health information and communication. The objectives of this study were to find out the effects of Safaricom's Lipa na M-PESA (LNM) use on clinic administrative costs and revenue, and to study the uptake and acceptability of LNM by patients. The study researched mobile payment acceptability by turning a clinic to be completely cashless for a six-week period...

The general state of healthcare in the Arab Republic of Egypt has been deemed mediocre at best. With a system that has not kept up with the challenges of a rapidly growing population, the first decade of the 21st century has seen considerable inequality and a lack of social justice in the provision of healthcare services as well as in the passing of necessary and critical reforms. However, in light of the new political order, the healthcare system of the Arab republic of Egypt is one that is ripe with possibilities for growth and improvement...

The problem of disease epidemics is an ever present threat in our increasingly connected world is one that many nations particularly in the developing world, continue to struggle with. However, in recent times, the use of technology has played a crucial role in the effective management of disease outbreaks. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa witnessed unprecedented applications of digital innovations to key areas of the public health response- disease surveillance, health worker training and public education; with satisfactory results...

There has been significant improvement in health in Sub-Saharan Africa due to global commitment such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, progress has been slow due to the double burden of diseases which is affected by weak health systems. The Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) with one of its targets of Universal Health Coverage ((UHC) emerges as a transformation in fighting health challenges. This article addresses how effective hospital services are as an essential component of achieving SDGs and UHC in Africa...

As of 2015, it was estimated that 400 million people lacked access to essential health services The Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Initiative aims to address this issue by delivering quality health service to people around the world whilst minimizing costs. Access to affordable medical technology is a cornerstone to this initiative. Consequently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed the 'Compendium of Innovative Technologies for Low-Resource Settings' in order to highlight 127 innovations that could help to address these health issues...

Access to essential medicines in low-and middle-income countries is affected by market failures and government failures. This paper review the design and lessons learned from the multi-country Phase I of the Affordable Medicines for Malaria (AMFm), and the political economy of decision making around findings from its independent evaluation. It concludes with reflections on lessons learned, the potential applicability of the private-public approach to other health commodities and countries, and the implications of this experience for evidence-based decisions in global health and development assistance...

From June 27th to July 1st 2016, the International Hospital Federation (IHF) and Health Investment & Financing hosted a Hospital Executive Study Tour in New York City, NY, USA. The objective of the Hospital Executive Study Tour was to enable participant to learn how the US hospital sector addresses some of the key challenges and solutions in transforming the way hospital care is delivered in the 21st Century. The New York Study Tour was part of a series of premier events offered by the IHF. This Study Tour was a collaborative effort among regional members and partner organizations in hosting various events to allow an exchange of ideas, knowledge, experiences and best practices in the delivery of healthcare services, and in the leadership and management of their organizations...

Australian governments and health service providers play a continual role in ensuring efficient healthcare budget use, which also concerns the meeting of goals within a universal health system, and ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and regulations. As is the case in most developed countries, there is substantial pressure on healthcare budgets, and this in turn places pressure on the capacity of governments to fund universal healthcare. The mixed public-private system in Australia has some imperfections including the fragmentation of care and limitations to fund use oversight, however overall, the system serves Australians relatively well...

This article is about health insurance-related and Third Par!y Administrator services in India. Health Insurance in India is still at an early stage: only about 14% of the entire population has taken out insurance. There is a large chunk of the population without any insurance coverage. Third Party Administrators (TPA's) are intermediary between Insurance companies. Hospitals (Providers) and Insured Parties (Corporate or Individual). Indian Health Insurance is growing at the rate of almost 30% per year. The government of India is launching a lot of schemes to cover the population, especially in rural parts of the country...

Consumers in today's healthcare economy are more invested in their healthcare decisions. Experiences from innovators in other industries - such as clear payment communication and convenient, digital payment options - set expectations for the healthcare payment experience. However, healthcare payments have been slow to change, despite this evolution in the consumer's role, and continue to rely on disjointed, paper-based processes that leave consumers confused and frustrated. As a result, many consumers are demanding changes to the healthcare payments experience...

Brazil's economic and political crisis had never been deeper, hardening the way companies deal on the market. Only those that are able to deal with tougher market conditions remain in the game, while facing increasingly difficult situations. A continuous rise in competition has shrunk prices and compressed margins, imposing necessary improvements to the way companies work in order to remain sustainable. The healthcare market is no exception, and if leaders identify improvement opportunities for the way their companies deal with Revenue Cycle Management, they will easily be one step ahead of competition...

Strategic purchasing is not new, rather it first started in Western Europe in the 1960s, as an approach to improving health system responsiveness, as well as for them more effective matching of supply and demand. In the 1960s some Western European facilities were affected by empty beds, others by overcrowding. Doctors were not showing up for work, due to the establishment of dual practice. There were consumer queues, and complaints that providers were inhumane. There was a shift purchasers in High Income Countries like Organization and Economic Cooperation for Development (OECD) countries, from paying for inputs to outputs and now outcomes...

The convergence of technology, business processes, credit practices, and other resources within the nexus of healthcare and banking has yielded a new industry niche. This nascent market development was called "medical banking" by the author in 1996, who founded. The Medical Banking Project in 2001, now unified with the global HIMSS organization (2009). In this article, the author expands upon an earlier work (The Rise of the Bank Infomediary, Casillas, 2007) to suggest that banks and financial institutions, teamed with healthcare firms, are working on multiple commercial fronts to develop inter-organizational systems...

Throughout the world hospital sector faces critical challenges in managing the revenue cyle, fro billing through a long chain of events which concludes with final payment of services provided. This article discusses Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) in the USA today as well as its possible in implementation in other countries.

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