Hospital financial performance in the United States of America: a follow-up study.

To clarify and validate the factors that influence hospital profitability in the United States of America, we used a cross-sectional design to examine data for 1998. Several changes and government regulations introduced in the early 1990s influenced hospital performance. We included those variables to give a better understanding of the hospital payment system.

Aging in sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a redefinition of needs research and policy directions.

This paper reviews the trends in population dynamics for the elderly in Sub-Saharan Africa, the changing role of the elderly in family and kinship systems, the place of the elderly in development efforts by national governments, and new directions for research and policy on aging. The paper concludes with suggestions for improving the quality of care given to the elderly. Attention is directed to issues of health, nutrition, housing, social welfare, employment, income and social security, and education and training for the elderly in the region.