Third-party Payment System Research Articles

Diversity, equity and inclusiveness in healthcare: A primary care perspective.

Addressing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in health care is a multidimensional challenge. From a US perspective, the third-party payment system has disempowered and depersonalized health-care delivery. The net result is wasteful and inefficient use of human and financial resources, burnout among providers, as well as care inequities. Financial integration at the point of patient care is essential to aligning the needs of patients with advances in medical technology. Complexity theory offers valuable insights into the roles of government, intermediaries and patients. The government must focus on equity as a rule compiler and referee of the system. Patient and providers who are actively engaged in shared decision-making will naturally address the diverse needs of multitudinous communities. Intermediaries address inclusion by connecting resources with the point of care. In a dynamic, emerging health-care system that serves diverse communities, patient and community-based financing, vouchers and defined contributions are necessary first steps in addressing cultural diversity, inclusion and equity.

Research on brush face payment system based on internet artificial intelligence

The facial information of a person has constant invariance, and at the same time, it is an ideal basis for identifying identity information through differences between different individuals. The use of face recognition in third-party payment platforms will greatly improve the efficiency and securit y of payment. Based on this, the paper studies and designs the third-party payment system for face recognition in the context of Internet artificial intelligence to improve the convenience and security of face payment.

Effects of the Experience in Using the Third-Party Payment on the Payment Model of Online Shopping

As it is impossible for consumers to conduct a face-to-face transaction in online shopping, both buyers and sellers would mistrust each other and lack a sense of security. To address this problem, people have gradually paid heed to the third-party payment. Targeting at the third-party payment, this study probed into the effects of consumers’ perceived risk and benefit of the third-party payment system, social impact and personal involvement in the Internet on the attitude towards the third-party payment system, perceived value and use intention. Moreover, a relational model was established, and the differences between those who had used the third-party payment and those who hadn’t were explored. In this study, the convenience sampling was adopted to retrieve 761 valid questionnaire copies. The respondents were divided into two groups according to the experience in using the third-party payment: one had used the third-party payment and the other hadn’t. Then, the two groups were compared. The findings showed that there was significant difference between the two groups in three relational paths: (1) for the online shoppers who had used the third-party payment, perceived benefit had stronger influence on use attitude; (2) for the online shoppers who had never used the third-party payment, attitude had greater impact on the use intention of the third-party payment; (3) for the online shoppers who had used the third-party payment, perceived value had more significant effect on the use intention of the third-party payment. The research results also demonstrated that there was some difference in behavioral model between the two groups. These findings can be taken as reference information for the third-party payment enterprises to make strategies.

A new coupled ARMA-FGM model and its application in the internet third-party payment forecasting in China

PurposeWith the rapid development of e-commerce in China, the third-party payment system greatly improved the efficiency and volume of the entire trading market. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a suitable prediction model to analyse its development trend.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyse internet third-party payments in China, taking into account online payment transaction values coupled with an ARMA model and the fractional grey model (FGM). First, the rolling FGM model is applied in order to characterise the trends of the transaction volume. The influence of the initial value change on the FGM model is analysed. The optimisation mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) model is constructed to determine the optimal translational values, the corresponding optimal accumulation order and optimal inverse accumulation order.FindingsThis paper uses China’s recent third-party online payment data to quantify its development trend. The authors find the coupling model suitable for the development trend of third-party online payment transaction. The results show that the model is suitable to quantify its development trend of China’s recent third-party online payment.Originality/valueConsidering the complex influence factors that lead to the third-party online payment volume data of time-varying grey feature, this paper combines the FGM with ARMA model to describe the development of third-party payment mode.

BulaPay: a novel web service based third-party payment system for e-commerce

The availability of social media and 4G Mobile Internet services boosts e-commerce markets. The online payment systems are an integral part of e-commerce. It becomes the increasing need for online shopping and trading to use secure and low cost third-party payment systems. In this paper, we present an online purchase system of BulaPay that is capable of integrating common e-commerce frameworks and shopping cart systems. Using a set of Web services and simple HTML as its interfaces, BulaPay supports complete payment transactions for a business process in a worldwide way. BulaPay not only enables consumers and shop owners to carry out their daily business on the Internet, but also provides them secure, flexible, reliable, and efficient services. This paper presents an overview of the BulaPay system. The comparisons of our system to the existing third party payment systems are given. We also report the results of the end user evaluation on BulaPay.

Piloting an HIV self-test kit voucher program to raise serostatus awareness of high-risk African Americans, Los Angeles.

BackgroundUp to half of all new HIV cases in Los Angeles may be caused by the 20-30% of men who have sex with men (MSM) with unrecognized HIV infection. Racial/ethnic minority MSM are at particularly high risk for being sero-unaware and due to stigma and poor healthcare access might benefit from novel private, self-testing methods, such as the recently FDA-approved OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test.MethodsFrom July-November 2013, we undertook a pilot study to examine the feasibility of a voucher program for free OraQuick® tests targeting African American MSM in Los Angeles. We determined feasibility based on: (1) the establishment of a voucher redemption and third-party payment system, (2) the willingness of community-based organizations (CBOs) to disseminate vouchers, and (3) the collection of user demographics, test and linkage-to-care results with an anonymous telephone survey.ResultsWe partnered with Walgreens® to create a voucher and third-party reimbursement system for free OraQuick® tests. Voucher distribution was divided into two periods. In total, 641 vouchers were supplied to CBOs: 274 (42.7%) went to clients and of those 53 (19.3%) were redeemed. Fifty (18.2%) of the 274 clients were surveyed: 44 (88%) were African American, 39 (78%) reported being likely to repeat voucher use, 44 (88%) reported reviewing pre-test information, and 37 (74%) the post-test information. Three (6%) of 50 survey respondents reported newly testing HIV-positive of whom all (100%) reported seeking medical care. Two withheld their results, both of whom also sought medical care.ConclusionsDeveloping and partnering with a commercial pharmacy to institute a voucher system to facilitate HIV self-testing with linkage-to-care was feasible. Our findings suggest the voucher program was associated with increasing the identification of new cases of HIV infection with high rates of linkage to care. Expanded research and evaluation of voucher programs for HIV self-test kits among high-risk groups is warranted.

John R. Commons’ Contributions to Health Care Reform in the 21st Century

The analytical methods of John R. Commons, including his emphasis on security of expectations, transactions and the importance of public sovereignty, are applied to the issues of health care reform. Historically the development of the third-party payment system has improved security of expectations, reduced the economic power of the health care provider, and created a rationing transaction for health care. This analysis and Commons’ advocacy for compulsory health insurance to be provided through mutual insurance companies under control of employers, government, and workers supports a single-payer system of universal health care coverage under public governance today.

Integration of E-CRM in Healthcare Services

The quality of service which could be delivered by the U.S. healthcare system is in contrast with the customer’s perceived expectations and reported levels of satisfaction. Due to the uncertainty about stakeholder views and the anomaly of the third-party payment system, healthcare service providers are accused of not relating to their patients. This article examines how—by using an analytical framework—a healthcare provider can develop competitive advantage through implementing electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) systems that create per-ceived customer value for its patients. This framework allows the firm to systematically look at points where the customer interacts with specific organizational assets. By examining individual interactions and understanding how the customer perceives an interaction, the firm may then develop specific e-CRM systems to maximize the value a customer may realize through that in-teraction. Due to the in-depth and lengthy nature of most patient relationships with a healthcare provider, the healthcare industry is used as an example of how this framework can be used by all service providers.

Diagnosis and Management of Dental Caries Throughout Life

To provide health care providers, patients, and the general public with a responsible assessment of currently available data regarding the diagnosis and management of dental caries throughout life.A non-Federal, non-advocate, 13-member panel representing the fields of dentistry, epidemiology, genetics, medicine, oral biology, oral radiology, pathology, periodontics, public health, statistics, surgery, and including a public representative. In addition, 31 experts in these same fields presented data to the panel and to a conference audience of approximately 700.Presentations by experts; a systematic review of the dental research literature provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and an extensive bibliography of dental caries research papers, prepared by the National Library of Medicine. Scientific evidence was given precedence over clinical anecdotal experience.Answering predefined questions, the panel drafted a statement based on the scientific evidence presented in open forum and the scientific literature. The draft statement was read in its entirety on the final day of the conference and circulated to the experts and the audience for comment. The panel then met in executive session to consider these comments and released a revised statement at the end of the conference. The statement was made available on the World Wide Web at http://consensus.nih.gov immediately after the conference. This statement is an independent report of the panel and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the Federal Government.This Consensus Development Conference, the first sponsored by the NIH on dental caries, provided an excellent venue to describe the great success that has been achieved in reducing caries prevalence. More importantly, it provided a public forum to review both the strengths and weaknesses of current dental caries research and clinical procedures. Effective preventive practices, such as the use of fluoride, sugarless products, and dental sealants were reconfirmed and clinical studies to identify more conservative but more effective nonsurgical and surgical approaches are to be applauded. However, it was evident that current diagnostic practices are inadequate to achieve the next level of caries management in which noncavitated lesions are identified early so that they can be managed by nonsurgical methods. Some new and sensitive diagnostic approaches were presented to the panel, but concern was raised about the use of histological confirmation of caries presence as an appropriate gold standard. The resolution of these issues requires that surrogate markers, validated by histological confirmation, be developed. Once these surrogate markers of dental caries activity are validated, rapid advances in our understanding of the caries. In spite of optimism about the future, the panel was disappointed in the overall quality of the clinical data set that it reviewed. Far too many studies used weak research designs or were small or poorly described, and consequently had questionable validity. There was a clear impression that clinical caries research is underfunded, if not undervalued. Moreover, incomplete information on the natural history of dental caries, the inability to accurately identify early lesions and/or lesions that are actively progressing, and the absence of objective diagnostic methods are troubling. Several systematic reviews of the literature presented at the Consensus Development Conference concluded that the majority of the studies were inadequate, and it is clear that a major investment of research and training funds is required to seize the current opportunities. This is not to say that the diagnostic, preventive, and treatment techniques currently used do not work, but rather that earlier studies to support their efficacy do not meet current scientific standards. Indeed, given the dramatic improvements in reducing dental caries prevalence in the past 30 years, both consumers and health professionals should not depart from the practices which are likely to have contributed to this oral health improvement, including the use of a variety of fluoride products, dietary modification, pit and fissure sealant, improved oral hygiene, and regular professional care. In addition, pending new data, clinicians should apply both preventive and therapeutic interventions in the manner in which they have been studied. When solid confirmation of the effectiveness of promising new diagnostic techniques, nonsurgical treatments of noncavitated lesions, and conservative surgical interventions for cavitated lesions are obtained, dental health professionals and the public should embrace them rapidly in anticipation of attaining still higher levels of oral health. None of these anticipated advances will be achieved, however, in the absence of a progressive, third-party payment system that acknowledges its responsibility to compensate providers adequately to ensure that the next generation of conservative therapy can be enjoyed by the American people.

The Economics of Professional Journal Pricing

The problems of excessive inflation and price discrimination in journal pricing continue to plague libraries. In analyzing the causes of the current crisis, the authors review and evaluate previous contributions to the literature on journal pricing with particular emphasis on the three types of price discrimination practiced by journal publishers. The authors suggest that the monopoly power of commercial publishers, combined with a third-party payment system, are at the heart of the problem. They suggest solutions that involve providing appropriate incentives to journal users, adoption of more equitable pricing systems, and employing the potential monopoly purchasing power of library associations to lower prices.

Universal Health Insurance Through Incentives Reform

Roughly 35 million Americans have no health care coverage. Health care expenditures are out of control. The problems of access and cost are inextricably related. Important correctable causes include cost-unconscious demand, a system not organized for quality and economy, market failure, and public funds not distributed equitably or effectively to motivate widespread coverage. We propose Public Sponsor agencies to offer subsidized coverage to those otherwise uninsured, mandated employer-provided health insurance, premium contributions from all employers and employees, a limit on tax-free employer contributions to employee health insurance, and "managed competition". Our proposed new government revenues equal proposed new outlays. We believe our proposal will work because efficient managed care does exist and can provide satisfactory care for a cost far below that of the traditional fee-for-service third-party payment system. Presented with an opportunity to make an economically responsible choice, people choose value for money; the dynamic created by these individual choices will give providers strong incentives to render high-quality, economical care. We believe that providers will respond to these incentives.

An administered price system for hospitals

In considering alternative health care cost containment strategies, the United States seems to be turning away from a market-structure approach in favor of performance-target planning. In the hospital field where third-party payment prevails, this latter approach is manifested by systems of regulations and constraints on the behavior of hospitals, physicians and patients superimposed on a system of cost-based reimbursement. The implications of such approaches are analyzed in this paper, and an alternative market-structure approach is proposed which provides positive incentives for efficient resource allocation and eliminates the necessity for restricting individual and institutional behavior. The proposed approach over-comes the perverse incentives of cost-based rate setting which are present in all of the prospective reimbursement systems currently being promoted. To encourage efficiency, a third-party payment system must use prices as a means of communication between the participants in the system; must provide incentives for consumers to seek out efficient hospitals; and must differentiate between hospitals (for the purpose of rate-setting) only on the basis of characteristics of their external economic environments. The system which satisfies these requirements is conceptually uncomplicated and easy to administer. Exogenous price ceilings, which converge to the competitive limit, are improvised by observing the difference between the prevailing ceiling and the prices charged by hospitals per episode of each type; the forces of consumer sovereignty and competition are preserved by reimbursing consumers at the administered price ceiling for services obtained at the prices chosen by hospitals.

Transference and countertransference in a third-party payment system (HMO).

The authors discuss the transference and countertransference reactions characteristic of a mental health service in a health maintenance organization. Among the transference issues considered of greatest interest are responses to payment premium rather than fee-for-service; attitudes toward the limited duration of treatment and the circumscribed return-to-function goals; reactions to the therapist and to the HMO as authorities; and the effects of being a clinic patient on one's self-image. The countertransference issues considered most significant include reactions by the therapist to being salaried rather than receiving fees for service; responses to self-exposure, peer review, and quality control; and alterations of the therapist's self-image related to such factors as his value system, cultural milieu, and therapeutic orientation.