Health and health care in Israel: an introduction.

Starting well before Independence in 1948, and over the ensuing six decades, Israel has built a robust, relatively efficient public system of health care, resulting in good health statistics throughout the life course. Because of the initiative of people living under the British Mandate for Palestine (1922-48), the development of many of today's health services predated the state's establishment by several decades. An extensive array of high-quality services and technologies is available to all residents, largely free at point of service, via the promulgation of the 1994 National Health Insurance Law.

Recent physician strike in Israel: a health system under stress?

In 2011, a series of physician strikes in Israel followed eight months of unsuccessful negotiations with the government (Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance). Strikes by physicians may be a warning that all is not well in a health system and protestors have claimed that they signify a system failure. In contrast, others argue that strikes have been a feature of the Israeli health system from its inception and should not be a cause for alarm.

[Job satisfaction, intention to leave and leaving the practice of medicine among physicians in Israel: a survey of physicians receiving their licenses in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006].

Introduction: There is recent evidence that physicians are increasingly dissatisfied with the medical profession and are leaving the profession.

Goals: To measure job satisfaction and the rate of Leaving the profession among physicians recently licensed in israeL.

Methods: A telephone survey among 733 doctors; graduates of medical schools in Israel who received their license in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.

A framework for developing an evidence-based, comprehensive tobacco control program.

Background: Tobacco control is an area where the translation of evidence into policy would seem to be straightforward, given the wealth of epidemiological, behavioural and other types of research available. Yet, even here challenges exist. These include information overload, concealment of key (industry-funded) evidence, contextualization, assessment of population impact, and the changing nature of the threat.

Toward a 21st-century health care system: recommendations for health care reform.

The coverage, cost, and quality problems of the U.S. health care system are evident.