BackgroundPostpartum depression (PPD) affects 10-15% of women, is costly and debilitating, yet often remains undiagnosed. Within Alberta, Canada, screening is conducted at public health well child clinics using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. If screened high-risk, women are offered referral to their family physicians for follow up diagnosis and treatment.
Canada recently entered into two multinational trade agreements (i.e., the Canada, United States, and Mexico Trade Agreement; and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union). The resulting federal policy changes will prolong periods of market protection afforded to eligible brand-name prescription drugs by extending competition-blocking patent and data…
Most pharmaceutical expenditure in Canada is private. In 2017, Canadian provincial, territorial and federal governments were reported to have spent $14.5 billion on pharmaceuticals, accounting for only 43% of total pharmaceutical expenditure.1 A combination of private insurance and patient expenditures in the form of direct payment for pharmaceuticals, deductibles and other…
In the nurse-led care (NLC) model, nurses take on the primary responsibility for patient management. We systematically assessed the effect of NLC for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on multiple dimensions of quality of care from the Alberta Quality of Care Matrix for Health.
Healthcare providers, managers and policy-makers in many jurisdictions are focused on a common goal: optimizing value and quality of care provided to their citizens within a resource envelope. Health technology reassessment is a structured, evidence-based assessment of the clinical, social, ethical and economic effects of a technology currently used in the healthcare system to…
Middle-aged individuals classified as normal by BMI may be overweight/obese based on measures of %BF. These individuals may be at risk for chronic diseases, but would not be identified as such based on their BMI classification. Quantifying %BF in this group could inform targeted strategies for disease prevention.
Cost is a critical element in almost all public or private decisions regarding health care and human services. While cost as “opportunity cost” is straightforward on a conceptual level, making the concept operational, quantifying costs and integrating such information into decision analysis is a continuing challenge. An IHE conference, “On the State of the Art…
