The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

An acute or prolonged illness usually considered to be life-threatening or with the threat of serious residual disability. Treatment may be radical and is frequently costly.

Insurance providing a broad range of medical services and supplies, when prescribed by a physician, whether or not the patient is hospitalized. It frequently is an extension of a basic policy and benefits will not begin until the basic policy is exhausted.

Payment by individuals or their family for health care services which are not covered by a third-party payer, either insurance or medical assistance.

Value of all final goods and services produced in a country in one year.

Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.

The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population.

Mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and or natural resources to generate goods and services.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

Federal, state, or local government organized methods of financial assistance.

An increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods resulting in a substantial and continuing rise in the general price level.

The level of health of the individual, group, or population as subjectively assessed by the individual or by more objective measures.

All organized methods of funding.

The application of mathematical formulas and statistical techniques to the testing and quantifying of economic theories and the solution of economic problems.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.

Health insurance coverage for all persons in a state or country, rather than for some subset of the population. It may extend to the unemployed as well as to the employed; to aliens as well as to citizens; for pre-existing conditions as well as for current illnesses; for mental as well as for physical conditions.

Methods of generating, allocating, and using financial resources in healthcare systems.

The chemical reactions involved in the production and utilization of various forms of energy in cells.

The personal cost of acute or chronic disease. The cost to the patient may be an economic, social, or psychological cost or personal loss to self, family, or immediate community. The cost of illness may be reflected in absenteeism, productivity, response to treatment, peace of mind, or QUALITY OF LIFE. It differs from HEALTH CARE COSTS, meaning the societal cost of providing services related to the delivery of health care, rather than personal impact on individuals.

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

Size and composition of the family.

Components of a national health care system which administer specific services, e.g., national health insurance.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

The organization and administration of health services dedicated to the delivery of health care.

The concept pertaining to the health status of inhabitants of the world.

The integration of epidemiologic, sociological, economic, and other analytic sciences in the study of health services. Health services research is usually concerned with relationships between need, demand, supply, use, and outcome of health services. The aim of the research is evaluation, particularly in terms of structure, process, output, and outcome. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

Economic sector concerned with the provision, distribution, and consumption of health care services and related products.

A situation in which the level of living of an individual, family, or group is below the standard of the community. It is often related to a specific income level.

The actual costs of providing services related to the delivery of health care, including the costs of procedures, therapies, and medications. It is differentiated from HEALTH EXPENDITURES, which refers to the amount of money paid for the services, and from fees, which refers to the amount charged, regardless of cost.

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to health and disease in a human population within a given geographic area.

The containment, regulation, or restraint of costs. Costs are said to be contained when the value of resources committed to an activity is not considered excessive. This determination is frequently subjective and dependent upon the specific geographic area of the activity being measured. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.

The quality or state of relating to or affecting two or more nations. (After Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed)

That distinct portion of the institutional, industrial, or economic structure of a country that is controlled or owned by non-governmental, private interests.

A specialized agency of the United Nations designed as a coordinating authority on international health work; its aim is to promote the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all peoples.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Countries in the process of change with economic growth, that is, an increase in production, per capita consumption, and income. The process of economic growth involves better utilization of natural and human resources, which results in a change in the social, political, and economic structures.

Based on known statistical data, the number of years which any person of a given age may reasonably expected to live.

Encouraging consumer behaviors most likely to optimize health potentials (physical and psychosocial) through health information, preventive programs, and access to medical care.

Calculation of the energy expenditure in the form of heat production of the whole body or individual organs based on respiratory gas exchange.

Heat production, or its measurement, of an organism at the lowest level of cell chemistry in an inactive, awake, fasting state. It may be determined directly by means of a calorimeter or indirectly by calculating the heat production from an analysis of the end products of oxidation within the organism or from the amount of oxygen utilized.

The state wherein the person is well adjusted.

The seeking and acceptance by patients of health service.

The state of the organism when it functions optimally without evidence of disease.

Statistical models of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, as well as of financial considerations. For the application of statistics to the testing and quantifying of economic theories MODELS, ECONOMETRIC is available.

City, urban, rural, or suburban areas which are characterized by severe economic deprivation and by accompanying physical and social decay.

Planning for needed health and/or welfare services and facilities.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system.

Care which provides integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. (JAMA 1995;273(3):192)

The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

Behaviors expressed by individuals to protect, maintain or promote their health status. For example, proper diet, and appropriate exercise are activities perceived to influence health status. Life style is closely associated with health behavior and factors influencing life style are socioeconomic, educational, and cultural.

Health services required by a population or community as well as the health services that the population or community is able and willing to pay for.

A country spanning from central Asia to the Pacific Ocean.

Men and women working in the provision of health services, whether as individual practitioners or employees of health institutions and programs, whether or not professionally trained, and whether or not subject to public regulation. (From A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, 1976)

The optimal state of the mouth and normal functioning of the organs of the mouth without evidence of disease.

Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

Procedures for finding the mathematical function which best describes the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In linear regression (see LINEAR MODELS) the relationship is constrained to be a straight line and LEAST-SQUARES ANALYSIS is used to determine the best fit. In logistic regression (see LOGISTIC MODELS) the dependent variable is qualitative rather than continuously variable and LIKELIHOOD FUNCTIONS are used to find the best relationship. In multiple regression, the dependent variable is considered to depend on more than a single independent variable.

Planning for the equitable allocation, apportionment, or distribution of available health resources.

Management of public health organizations or agencies.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Organized services to provide mental health care.

Variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures.

A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.

The promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health in the work environment.

The science of controlling or modifying those conditions, influences, or forces surrounding man which relate to promoting, establishing, and maintaining health.

The prediction or projection of the nature of future problems or existing conditions based upon the extrapolation or interpretation of existing scientific data or by the application of scientific methodology.

Preferentially rated health-related activities or functions to be used in establishing health planning goals. This may refer specifically to PL93-641.

An infant during the first month after birth.

The status of health in rural populations.

The activities and endeavors of the public health services in a community on any level.

A health care system which combines physicians, hospitals, and other medical services with a health plan to provide the complete spectrum of medical care for its customers. In a fully integrated system, the three key elements - physicians, hospital, and health plan membership - are in balance in terms of matching medical resources with the needs of purchasers and patients. (Coddington et al., Integrated Health Care: Reorganizing the Physician, Hospital and Health Plan Relationship, 1994, p7)

Total number of calories taken in daily whether ingested or by parenteral routes.

The concept covering the physical and mental conditions of women.

Organized services to provide health care for children.

The relative amounts of various components in the body, such as percentage of body fat.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health services provided for individuals in the community.

The status of health in urban populations.

Research aimed at assessing the quality and effectiveness of health care as measured by the attainment of a specified end result or outcome. Measures include parameters such as improved health, lowered morbidity or mortality, and improvement of abnormal states (such as elevated blood pressure).

Health services, public or private, in rural areas. The services include the promotion of health and the delivery of health care.

Degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the acceptable or desirable weight, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).

Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc.

Available manpower, facilities, revenue, equipment, and supplies to produce requisite health care and services.

Institutions which provide medical or health-related services.

Planning for health resources at a regional or multi-state level.

The availability of HEALTH PERSONNEL. It includes the demand and recruitment of both professional and allied health personnel, their present and future supply and distribution, and their assignment and utilization.

Planning that has the goals of improving health, improving accessibility to health services, and promoting efficiency in the provision of services and resources on a comprehensive basis for a whole community. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988, p299)

Those funds disbursed for facilities and equipment, particularly those related to the delivery of health care.

The generation of heat in order to maintain body temperature. The uncoupled oxidation of fatty acids contained within brown adipose tissue and SHIVERING are examples of thermogenesis in MAMMALS.

The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms.

The amount that a health care institution or organization pays for its drugs. It is one component of the final price that is charged to the consumer (FEES, PHARMACEUTICAL or PRESCRIPTION FEES).

Health insurance plans for employees, and generally including their dependents, usually on a cost-sharing basis with the employer paying a percentage of the premium.

Absolute, comparative, or differential costs pertaining to services, institutions, resources, etc., or the analysis and study of these costs.

Facilities which administer the delivery of health care services to people living in a community or neighborhood.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the aged and the maintenance of health in the elderly.

Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.

State plans prepared by the State Health Planning and Development Agencies which are made up from plans submitted by the Health Systems Agencies and subject to review and revision by the Statewide Health Coordinating Council.

Services designed for HEALTH PROMOTION and prevention of disease.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XIX, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, administered by the states, that provides health care benefits to indigent and medically indigent persons.

Physical activity which is usually regular and done with the intention of improving or maintaining PHYSICAL FITNESS or HEALTH. Contrast with PHYSICAL EXERTION which is concerned largely with the physiologic and metabolic response to energy expenditure.

Organized services to provide health care to expectant and nursing mothers.

Professions or other business activities directed to the cure and prevention of disease. For occupations of medical personnel who are not physicians but who are working in the fields of medical technology, physical therapy, etc., ALLIED HEALTH OCCUPATIONS is available.

Organized systems for providing comprehensive prepaid health care that have five basic attributes: (1) provide care in a defined geographic area; (2) provide or ensure delivery of an agreed-upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services; (3) provide care to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons; (4) require their enrollees to use the services of designated providers; and (5) receive reimbursement through a predetermined, fixed, periodic prepayment made by the enrollee without regard to the degree of services provided. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

A geographic area defined and served by a health program or institution.

The consumption of edible substances.

Detailed financial plans for carrying out specific activities for a certain period of time. They include proposed income and expenditures.

Freedom from activity.

Generally refers to the amount of protection available and the kind of loss which would be paid for under an insurance contract with an insurer. (Slee & Slee, Health Care Terms, 2d ed)

A nursing specialty concerned with promoting and protecting the health of populations, using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences to develop local, regional, state, and national health policy and research. It is population-focused and community-oriented, aimed at health promotion and disease prevention through educational, diagnostic, and preventive programs.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XVIII-Health Insurance for the Aged, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, that provides health insurance benefits to persons over the age of 65 and others eligible for Social Security benefits. It consists of two separate but coordinated programs: hospital insurance (MEDICARE PART A) and supplementary medical insurance (MEDICARE PART B). (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed and A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, US House of Representatives, 1976)

The rate at which oxygen is used by a tissue; microliters of oxygen STPD used per milligram of tissue per hour; the rate at which oxygen enters the blood from alveolar gas, equal in the steady state to the consumption of oxygen by tissue metabolism throughout the body. (Stedman, 25th ed, p346)

The physical condition of human reproductive systems.

Media that facilitate transportability of pertinent information concerning patient's illness across varied providers and geographic locations. Some versions include direct linkages to online consumer health information that is relevant to the health conditions and treatments related to a specific patient.

The physical activity of a human or an animal as a behavioral phenomenon.

Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services.

Health services for employees, usually provided by the employer at the place of work.

The measurement of the quantity of heat involved in various processes, such as chemical reactions, changes of state, and formations of solutions, or in the determination of the heat capacities of substances. The fundamental unit of measurement is the joule or the calorie (4.184 joules). (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Payment by a third-party payer in a sum equal to the amount expended by a health care provider or facility for health services rendered to an insured or program beneficiary. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances.

Health care provided to specific cultural or tribal peoples which incorporates local customs, beliefs, and taboos.

Health insurance plans intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS and PREFERRED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.

Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

Studies designed to assess the efficacy of programs. They may include the evaluation of cost-effectiveness, the extent to which objectives are met, or impact.

A method of comparing the cost of a program with its expected benefits in dollars (or other currency). The benefit-to-cost ratio is a measure of total return expected per unit of money spent. This analysis generally excludes consideration of factors that are not measured ultimately in economic terms. Cost effectiveness compares alternative ways to achieve a specific set of results.

Stable oxygen atoms that have the same atomic number as the element oxygen, but differ in atomic weight. O-17 and 18 are stable oxygen isotopes.

Those actions designed to carry out recommendations pertaining to health plans or programs.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

The level of governmental organization and function below that of the national or country-wide government.

Reductions in all or any portion of the costs of providing goods or services. Savings may be incurred by the provider or the consumer.

The area of a nation's economy that is tax-supported and under government control.

Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.

The systematic application of information and computer sciences to public health practice, research, and learning.

Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.

An operating division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It is concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to health and medical research. Until 1995, it was an agency of the United States PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.

Norms, criteria, standards, and other direct qualitative and quantitative measures used in determining the quality of health care.

An interactive process whereby members of a community are concerned for the equality and rights of all.

Health services, public or private, in urban areas. The services include the promotion of health and the delivery of health care.

The decision process by which individuals, groups or institutions establish policies pertaining to plans, programs or procedures.

Evaluation procedures that focus on both the outcome or status (OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT) of the patient at the end of an episode of care - presence of symptoms, level of activity, and mortality; and the process (ASSESSMENT, PROCESS) - what is done for the patient diagnostically and therapeutically.

The health status of the family as a unit including the impact of the health of one member of the family on the family as a unit and on individual family members; also, the impact of family organization or disorganization on the health status of its members.