For-profit Health Care Providers Research Articles

Exploring for-profit healthcare providers' perceptions of inclusion in the Zambia National Health Insurance Scheme: A qualitative content analysis.

In 2019, Zambia introduced the national health insurance (NHI) as a healthcare financing strategy to increase universal access to health care services. The private health sector can complement public sector providers as service providers under the NHI. As such, the NHI Management Authority seeks to accredit for-profit private healthcare facilities in the NHI. Ascertaining factors that influence private-for-profit health providers to participate in the NHI is essential, but the evidence is lacking. In this study, we aimed to explore and characterize perceptions and experiences of for-profit private hospitals, dental clinics, eye clinics, diagnostic centres, and pharmacies regarding their inclusion in the NHI. We conducted in-depth interviews with owners or management officers of purposively sampled private health care providers in Lusaka, Zambia (n = 22) between May and June 2020. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse data. The findings highlight low awareness of the NHI among providers and a need to understand the NHI. Providers revealed their positions and views on the accreditation process and payment arrangements and stated that their participation would complement the NHI. They also cited conditions to participate in the NHI, highlighted opportunities and challenges of engaging in the NHI, and expressed a need for sustainable ways of governing the scheme. The assessment of health providers' inclusion in the NHI scheme is multifaceted. The results of this study surfaced factors such as raising awareness on the NHI among providers and how their concerns on aspects such as payments can be considered as inputs to enlighten consensual agreements between the NHI authority and health providers in leveraging the private health sector. Private providers' concerns must be further understood and considered as the NHI strives to include this group as health care providers in the scheme.

Does Service Provider Matter During a Pandemic? COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Among Nonprofit vs. For-Profit Assisted Living Facilities in Florida

When COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early 2020, individuals aged 65+ were identified as a higher risk population. In Florida, Governor DeSantis issued Emergency Order 20-006 to prohibit visitation to facilities housing groups of high-risk people, including assisted living facilities (ALFs). Regardless, 672 ALFs of the 3,019 in Florida had reported at least one positive case of COVID-19 by a resident or staff member as of June 30, 2020. Prior research has highlighted the differences in service delivery between nonprofit and for-profit health care providers. This manuscript fills the void of minimal research on quality of care differences among ALFs based on ownership status. We find that nonprofit ALFs have experienced fewer positive cases of COVID-19 among their residents, but less evidence of a difference between nonprofit and for-profit ALFs in terms of resident deaths. We also find evidence that the type of nursing services matters for protecting ALF residents from COVID-19.

A quantitative meta-analysis of organizational ownership and technical efficiency: non-linear influence by facility types and time for nonprofit and for-profit healthcare providers

ABSTRACT This study seeks to determine if for-profit healthcare organizations are more technically efficient than nonprofit organizations. We attempted to answer two questions: Does the technical efficiency of hospitals and nursing homes vary depending on ownership type? If so, how does time moderate the relationship between ownership and technical efficiency? Our findings do not show that for-profit healthcare providers are universally more technically efficient than nonprofit healthcare facilities. However, for-profit nursing homes are more technically efficient than nonprofit facilities, while there was no difference between nonprofits and for-profits in hospitals. An examination of healthcare facilities reveals that nonprofit institutions have only recently become efficient, while for-profit organizations were more efficient in the past. In conclusion, institutional changes in the healthcare delivery system of the US developed differently, depending on organization’s ownership and facility types. Theoretical and practical considerations were recommended as a policy tool in healthcare practices in terms of market and population for technical efficiency.

Invisible medicine sellers and their use of antibiotics: a qualitative study in Cambodia

BackgroundGlobal attention to antimicrobial resistance has increased interest in tackling the widespread inappropriate dispensing of antibiotics by informal, for-profit healthcare providers (HCPs). We provide new evidence on an understudied group...

On the DuPont analysis in the health care industry

Prior research documents that the DuPont components of return on net operating assets (profit margin and asset turnover) represent an incremental source of information about the operating characteristics of a firm and are useful tools for market participants (Soliman, 2008). We find that the informativeness of DuPont components about future profitability is reduced in the healthcare setting, relative to an all-industry sample. Moreover, to the extent that DuPont components are useful for market participants, we show that profit margin is more persistent than asset turnover for US for-profit health care providers, which contradicts the results documented in prior literature that considered all industries. We argue that the special features of the health care industry (i.e. heavy regulation, unique operational characteristics) affect the information content of accounting signals obtained based on financial statements.

PHP19 Increased Market Share of Private, For-Profit Health Care Providers From the Hungarian Health Insurance Budget Between 2006-2009

PHP19 Increased Market Share of Private, For-Profit Health Care Providers From the Hungarian Health Insurance Budget Between 2006-2009

Single Payer or Individual Tax Credit: Which Reform Proposal Is Best?

Single Payer or Individual Tax Credit: Which Reform Proposal Is Best?

Diagnosis and management of tuberculosis by private practitioners in Manila, Philippines

Setting Private for-profit health care providers are prominent in the health system of the Philippines. Objectives To examine the practices of the private practitioners in Malabon, Metropolitan Manila, Philippines, concerning diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). Design Forty-five private practitioners of Malabon who treat adult TB patients were interviewed. Results For diagnosis, most private practitioners relied on the clinical presentation and result of an X-ray. Only 13% of the respondents routinely also asked for sputum examination. Ninety-six percent used X-ray as a tool to monitor treatment. Sixty percent of the respondents prescribed a regimen consisting of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. Except for rifampicin, over-dosage was common. For re-treatment cases, none prescribed the WHO-recommended re-treatment regimen. The private practitioners perceived the main reasons for patient non-adherence to be the patients’ lack of finances to buy drugs and patients’ perceived well being after a certain period of treatment. Patients’ lack of money was seen as the main obstacle to compliance. The only case holding mechanism mentioned was occasional clinic appointments of the TB patients. Conclusion Private practices for diagnosis and treatment of TB typically deviate from guidelines. The quality of care among private practitioners needs improvement. Innovative strategies are required.

Seeking to Allow for-Profit Health Care Providers in Korea

Seeking to Allow for-Profit Health Care Providers in Korea

How Community Mental Health Centers Deal With Cutbacks and Competition

The results of a survey of 71 directors of community mental health centers in 15 states in 1982 and 1983 indicate that CMHCs made major changes in their services, staffing, sources of revenue, administration, and organization to cope with shrinking budgets, increased state regulation, impending prospective payment systems, and accelerating competition from private for-profit health care providers. Services offered by the CMHCs became less comprehensive and more oriented toward chronic and severely ill patients in 1982 and 1983, and entrepreneurial principles were employed to increase efficiency and attract new sources of revenue. These strategies have been successful, but the authors believe more long-range planning is necessary if CMHCs are to retain their distinctive place in the health care system.

Some Implications of Property Rights in Hospital Management

THIS paper derives and tests some implications about differences in behavior resulting from differences in property right arrangements, and in particular, between proprietary for-profit and nonproprietary not-for-profit hospitals (hereafter referred to as proprietary and nonproprietary hospitals respectively) . The arrangements in nonproprietary nonprofit enterprises are different from those in proprietary profit-seeking organizations because (1) certain rights or claims to benefits in nonproprietary organizations are not transferable by sale as they are in proprietary organizations, and (2) managers or workers in nonprofit organizations do not have exclusive claim on residual products (the current flows of money and nonmoney benefits) that is characteristic of for-profit enterprises.