Productivity change of national health systems in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region: application of DEA-based Malmquist productivity index.

Background: The pursuit of efficiency and productivity is one of the goals of health systems. In the era of Sustainable Development Goals and particularly the move towards universal health coverage, it is imperative to curb wastage of resources to ensure sustainable access of the population to needed and effective health services without enduring financial hardship. This study aims to assess total factor productivity change of national health systems of 20 countries in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Health status and health systems financing in the MENA region: roadmap to universal health coverage.

Background: Since the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 1990, many countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region made some improvements in maternal and child health and in tackling communicable diseases. The transition to the global agenda of Sustainable Development Goals brings new opportunities for countries to move forward toward achieving progress for better health, well-being, and universal health coverage. This study provides a profile of health status and health financing approaches in the MENA region and their implications on universal health coverage.

Primary Care Clinics and Accountable Care Organizations.

Background: The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is one of the new models of health care delivery in the U.S. To date, little is known about the characteristics of health care organizations that have joined ACOs.

Predictors of Rural Health Clinics Managers' Willingness to Join Accountable Care Organizations.

Purpose: The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has facilitated the development of an innovative and integrated delivery care system, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). It is timely, to identify how health care managers in rural health clinics are responding to the ACO model. This research examines RHC managers' perceived benefits and barriers for implementing ACOs from an organizational ecology perspective.

INFRASTRUCTURAL MECHANISMS LEADING TOWARD PRO-ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANISATION ORIENTATION: A SURVEY OF HOSPITAL MANAGERS.

Organisations across the country are transforming the way they deliver care, in ways similar to the accountable care organisation (ACO) model supported by Medicare. ACOs modalities are varying in size, type, and financing structure. Little is known about how specific infrastructural mechanisms influence hospital managers' pro-ACO orientation.

The distribution of physicians workforce in Louisiana: results from a cross-sectional study.

For the past two decades, Louisiana's population health rankings as reported by the United Health Foundation have been among the lowest in the nation. In addition, the 2009 Commonwealth State Scorecards Report ranked the Louisiana health system performance, in terms of health outcomes, among the poorest in the nation. One reason for this disparity could be attributed to shortages of physicians and other healthcare resources in the state.

Internal marketing: creating quality employee experiences in health care organizations.

To cope with the recent challenges within the health care industry, health care managers need to engage in the internal marketing of their various services. Internal marketing has been used as an effective management tool to increase employees' motivation, satisfaction, and productivity (J Mark Commun. 2010;16(5):325-344).