Paying for institutional quality: reaching the limits of funding policy?

As a recent issue of the Longwoods journal, HealthcarePapers (Vol. 6, No. 4), indicates, interest in pay-for-performance incentives is on the increase in both the US and Canada.

Economic analysis of psychosocial group therapy in women with metastatic breast cancer.

Purpose: Metastatic breast cancer is associated with psychological distress in one-third of patients. We examined the impact of group psychosocial support on health care costs in metastatic breast cancer. Psychosocial interventions have been shown to reduce psychological distress in these patients.

Issues in the governance of Canadian Hospitals IV: quality of hospital care.

The quality of hospital services is a fundamental responsibility of governance. This responsibility can be thought of in terms of three components: monitoring the quality of services; ensuring that management processes are in place to measure, monitor and maintain quality of services; and ensuring quality in all aspects of hospital operations.