Technologically assisted intensive home treatment: feasibility study.

Introduction: In recent year, many attempts have been made to provide patients with alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization during acute distress. Although several hospitalization alternatives have been offered, most of them still require patients to be distanced from their families, friends, and the social environment.

Methods: In this report we describe the implementation of a novel approach to psychiatric care termed "Technologically assisted Intensive Home Treatment", where patients arriving to emergency settings are directed to home care with technological aids that enable close monitoring and ongoing contact with their therapists.

Five years into the Israeli National Diabetes Program - are we on the right track?

Diabetes mellitus poses major public health and economic challenges which necessitate national-level intervention. The ultimate goal of the Israel National Diabetes Program is to ensure that all people with diabetes, or at high risk of developing diabetes, will live well and have access to high-quality services that meet their individual needs. The integrated National Diabetes Program in Israel was established in 2014.

[THE PARADIGM SHIFT IN MEDICINE FOLLOWING THE 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION].

A tremendous paradigm shift is occurring in the field of medicine. This is because the forward momentum in the evolving sphere of digital medicine has opened up new worlds of discovery that all fuse together to form a tsunami of innovation, along with sociological and social changes. The exponential rate of technological change creates profound sociological changes and these dynamics affect the medical field.

Disease Management plus Recommended Care versus Recommended Care Alone for Ambulatory Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

The efficacy of disease management programs in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains uncertain. To study the effect of disease management (DM) added to recommended care (RC) in ambulatory patients with COPD. In this trial, 1,202 patients with COPD (age, ≥40 yr), with moderate to very severe airflow limitation were randomly assigned either to DM plus RC (study intervention) or to RC alone (control intervention).

Cancer risk among Holocaust survivors in Israel-A nationwide study.

Background: Holocaust survivors during World War II were exposed to various factors that are associated with cancer risk. The objective of this study was to determine whether Holocaust survivors had an increased risk for developing cancer.

Methods: The study population included 152,622 survivors.

Disease management in the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure who have universal access to health care: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The efficacy of disease management programs in improving the outcome of heart failure patients remains uncertain and may vary across health systems. This study explores whether a countrywide disease management program is superior to usual care in reducing adverse health outcomes and improving well-being among community-dwelling adult patients with moderate-to-severe chronic heart failure who have universal access to advanced health-care services and technologies.

Methods: In this multicenter open-label trial, 1,360 patients recruited after hospitalization for heart failure exacerbation (38%) or from the community (62%) were randomly assigned to either disease management or usual care.

Tele-rehabilitation service delivery journey from prototype to robust in-home use.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to present a retrospective study on clients with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) enrolled in a tele-motion-rehabilitation service program for two or more months.

Methods: Data from 82 clients (46 males; 74 with ABI), aged 22-85 years, are reported. The Kinect-based CogniMotion System (ReAbility Online, Gertner Institute, Tel Hashomer, Israel) provided services that included 30-min biweekly sessions.

Characteristics of patients seeking health information online via social health networks versus general Internet sites: a comparative study.

Background: Camoni.co.il, a Hebrew-language social health network offers advice, consultation, and connection to others with chronic illness.

The mass campaign to eradicate ringworm among the Jewish community in Eastern Europe, 1921-1938.

Between the years 1921 and 1938, 27,600 children were irradiated during a mass campaign to eradicate ringworm among the Jewish community in East Europe. The ringworm campaign was the initiative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee together with the Jewish health maintenance organization OZE (The Society for the Protection of Jewish Health). We describe this campaign that used x-rays to eradicate ringworm and its mission to enhance public health among Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during the period between the world wars.

EQ-5D as a generic measure of health-related quality of life in Israel: reliability, validity and responsiveness.

Background: The European Quality of Life 5-Dimensions questionnaire is one of the most commonly used measures of health-related quality of life.

Objectives: To present the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Hebrew version of the EQ-5D.

Methods: We conducted face-to-face interviews with a representative sample (n = 1666) of the Israeli Jewish population.

The tinea capitis campaign in Serbia in the 1950s.

In this Historical Review we describe the 1950-59 UNICEF-supported campaign to eliminate tinea capitis, also known as ringworm, in Yugoslavia. Medical treatment for this infectious disease involved the use of ionising radiation. We discuss the possible health implications for the treated population.

The use of ICT in the delivery of healthcare services to the chronic patient.

Chronic diseases cause a major problem to the modern health care services world wide. Our work describes a new approach to tackle the problem of the chronically ill patients, by using information and communication technology (ICT) for patient's empowerment and managed their care. Our research, which is conducted with close cooperation with the health maintenance organizations and is still continuing, is based on a "bottom-up" approach and is also aimed at changing paradigms, well established in the western healthcare services.

[The forgotten ringworm campaign of OZE-TOZ in Poland].

In 1921, the JOINT-JDC [the American Jewish WeLfare Organization) together with the Jewish health organizations of Eastern Europe (OZE, TOZ) initiated a campaign to eradicate ringworm of the scalp, which was one of the major medical causes that prevented Jews from immigrating to the West. This campaign continued until 1938. During the years 1921-1938, 27,760 children were irradiated (x-rayed) as part of the treatment.

Health technology management in Israel: HTA in action.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the history and present situation with health technology assessment (HTA) in Israel.

Methods: The method used in this study was a historical analysis based mainly on the knowledge of the authors, but supplemented by the published literature.

Results: HTA originated in Israel as a centralized function conducted under the auspice of research, developing into an active multidisciplinary center.

A decade to the Israeli Center for Technology Assessment in Health Care.

The Israeli Center for Technology Assessment in Health Care (ICTAHC) was established in 1998 at the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, on foundations set in 1992 by the Medical Technology Assessment Unit. The Center is defined as an independent multidisciplinary research center, whose main aims are to assist in developing processes for the adoption of new technologies, identify and propose health priorities, and serve as an educational center for all stakeholders. Moreover, the Center promotes working relations with overseas counterparts as an essential component for expansion and advancement of the field of health technology assessment.

Economic value evaluation in disease management programs.

Chronic disease management has been a rapidly growing entity in the 21st century as a strategy for managing chronic illnesses in large populations. However, experience has shown that disease management programs have not been able to demonstrate their financial value. The objectives of disease management programs are to create quality benchmarks, such as principles and guidelines, and to establish a uniform set of metrics and a standardized methodology for evaluating them.

What should be given a priority - costly medications for relatively few people or inexpensive ones for many? The Health Parliament public consultation initiative in Israel.

Background: In the past two decades, government and civic organizations have been implementing a wide range of deliberative public consultations on health care-related policy. Drawing on these experiences, a public consultation initiative in Israel called the Health Parliament was established.

Goals: To implement a public consultation initiative that will engage members of the public in the discussion of four healthcare policy questions associated with equity in health services and on priorities for determining which medications and treatments should be included in the basket of national health services.

Adoption of cost consciousness: attitudes, practices, and knowledge among Israeli physicians.

Objectives: In a resource-constrained reality, physicians are facing polar demands-those of healthcare managements to adopt cost-conscious behaviors and those of ethical standards that obligate physicians to consider only their patients' best interests. In our study, we aimed to determine the attitudes, practices, and knowledge of healthcare costs among Israeli physicians.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed and mailed to a representative sample of physicians in Israel.

Year 2006 update of the Israel National List of Health Services.

In Israel, updating of the National List of Health Services is performed on a yearly basis by means of a systematic and structured mechanism for almost a decade. The existence of such a mechanism is vital for keeping medicine up to date, since many innovative and breakthrough medical technologies continuously and frequently evolve. The 2006 update is unique in several aspects, relating both to the mechanism and to the decision-making process.

Comparison of health care services for career soldiers throughout the world.

Health care systems operate differently in every country and are products of historical and political factors. We compared health care systems for career soldiers in various countries with those of the Israel Defense Forces. Questionnaires requesting data regarding military health care services provided in their countries were sent to military attaches serving in Israel.

[Reform in mental health services--from whence and to where].

For years the subject of mental health has been neglected in Israel, and reform of mental health services is now of paramount importance. Psychiatric medicine has altered considerably over the years, and emphasis is shifting from treatment in mental health institutions to treatment at the community level. This transition is the result of the awakening of groups in our society advocating civil rights for the mentally ill and their integration into the community.