The pace of globalization has significantly accelerated since the end of the Cold War Era in 1989. These changes profoundly affected health care systems worldwide. Health policy makers increasingly started facing new harsh challenges in their uneasy task to provide universal health coverage and decent equity of access to medical services. Among the most prominent demand-side issues are extended longevity joined with population aging, rise of non-communicable diseases, and growing patient expectations. Supply-side causes are gains in societal welfare and living standards, technological innovation in medicine and continuing rapid urbanization in developing world regions. Successful insurance-based risk sharing agreements made drug dispensing and medical service provision cheap or virtually free at the point of consumption in most OECD and many middle-income countries. Coupled with massive build-up of workforce capacities and strengthening of primary care and hospital networks, all these factors contributed to the “supplier induced demand” phenomenon. There is straightforward historical evidence of long-term growth in pharmaceutical and overall health spending both in absolute and GDP% terms worldwide. The accumulated constraints deriving from skyrocketing costs of care were felt in many areas of clinical medicine even among the richest societies. Cardinal examples of expensive and hardly affordable therapeutic areas are orphan drugs indicated to treat rare diseases and targeted biologicals used in autoimmune disorders and cancer. Last but not least, is troubled and frequently denied access to even essential generic pharmaceuticals still taking place in many nations. This appears to be particularly the case among the world's poor and under-served citizens residing in rural and suburban areas of low- and middle-income countries. To a large extent, these difficulties are worsened by lack of evidence-based resource allocation strategies and less sustainable financing strategies.

In this era of finite budgets, healthcare rationing, medication shortages, and the global aging and burgeoning of populations, numerous stakeholders in the healthcare arena must understand the basic principles of pharmacoeconomics and how these may be correctly applied to facilitate drug development, rationing, patient segmentation, disease management, and pricing model development. Pharmacoeconomics: From Theory to Practice, Second Edition focuses on how to more efficiently and rationally leverage these healthcare resources, not by restricting access to necessary services, but by using them more efficiently. This updated volume arms decision makers with the tools they need to make wise choices in an area where the stakes are extremely high—the health of the global population. Key Features: Introduces the major concepts and principles of Pharmacoeconomics Gives updated information about pharmacoeconomic models, value-based pricing, novel modelling methodologies and international utilization of these modalities in government, the pharmaceutical industry, and health care settings Demonstrates the full range of ethical and moral issues, as well as overall public health and commercial concerns that are often involved in decisions entailing pharmacoeconomic issues Presents both theory and methodology discussions, including real-world examples, in each chapter 'The methods and application of pharmacoeconomics are rapidly evolving, so the new edition of this textbook is very timely. It provides an excellent introduction for those new to the field, whether they be students, professionals within the pharmaceutical industry, or health care professionals more generally. A particularly useful feature of the book is that it gives an introduction both to the main methods used in pharmacoeconomics studies and how these studies are used in decisions about the reimbursement or appropriate use of medicines in several countries.' - Michael Drummond, Professor of Health Economics, University of York

The pharmaceutical industry is almost boundless in its ability to supply new drug therapies, but how does one decide which are the best medicines to use within restricted budgets? With particular emphasis on modeling, methodologies, data sources, and application to real-world dilemmas, Pharmacoeconomics: From Theory to Practice provides an introduc

While much progress has been made on achieving the Millenium Development Goals over the last decade, the number and complexity of global health challenges has persisted. Growing forces for globalization have increased the interconnectedness of the world and our interdependency on other countries, economies, and cultures. Monumental growth in international travel and trade have brought improved access to goods and services for many, but also carry ongoing and ever-present threats of zoonotic spillover and infectious disease outbreaks that threaten all. Global Health and the Future Role of the United States identifies global health priorities in light of current and emerging world threats. This report assesses the current global health landscape and how challenges, actions, and players have evolved over the last decade across a wide range of issues, and provides recommendations on how to increase responsiveness, coordination, and efficiency â€" both within the U.S. government and across the global health field.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare is more than a comprehensive introduction to artificial intelligence as a tool in the generation and analysis of healthcare data. The book is split into two sections where the first section describes the current healthcare challenges and the rise of AI in this arena. The ten following chapters are written by specialists in each area, covering the whole healthcare ecosystem. First, the AI applications in drug design and drug development are presented followed by its applications in the field of cancer diagnostics, treatment and medical imaging. Subsequently, the application of AI in medical devices and surgery are covered as well as remote patient monitoring. Finally, the book dives into the topics of security, privacy, information sharing, health insurances and legal aspects of AI in healthcare. Highlights different data techniques in healthcare data analysis, including machine learning and data mining Illustrates different applications and challenges across the design, implementation and management of intelligent systems and healthcare data networks Includes applications and case studies across all areas of AI in healthcare data

This new fifth edition of Information Resources in Toxicology offers a consolidated entry portal for the study, research, and practice of toxicology. Both volumes represents a unique, wide-ranging, curated, international, annotated bibliography, and directory of major resources in toxicology and allied fields such as environmental and occupational health, chemical safety, and risk assessment. The editors and authors are among the leaders of the profession sharing their cumulative wisdom in toxicology’s subdisciplines. This edition keeps pace with the digital world in directing and linking readers to relevant websites and other online tools. Due to the increasing size of the hardcopy publication, the current edition has been divided into two volumes to make it easier to handle and consult. Volume 1: Background, Resources, and Tools, arranged in 5 parts, begins with chapters on the science of toxicology, its history, and informatics framework in Part 1. Part 2 continues with chapters organized by more specific subject such as cancer, clinical toxicology, genetic toxicology, etc. The categorization of chapters by resource format, for example, journals and newsletters, technical reports, organizations constitutes Part 3. Part 4 further considers toxicology’s presence via the Internet, databases, and software tools. Among the miscellaneous topics in the concluding Part 5 are laws and regulations, professional education, grants and funding, and patents. Volume 2: The Global Arena offers contributed chapters focusing on the toxicology contributions of over 40 countries, followed by a glossary of toxicological terms and an appendix of popular quotations related to the field. The book, offered in both print and electronic formats, is carefully structured, indexed, and cross-referenced to enable users to easily find answers to their questions or serendipitously locate useful knowledge they were not originally aware they needed. Among the many timely topics receiving increased emphasis are disaster preparedness, nanotechnology, -omics, risk assessment, societal implications such as ethics and the precautionary principle, climate change, and children’s environmental health. Opens with an overview of the international toxicology scene, organizations and activities involved with both the science and regulatory framework, and a specific look at the European Union’s efforts Offers an extensive collection of chapters covering over 40 countries and their toxicological infrastructure which includes listings of major books and journals, organizations, professional societies, universities, poison control centers, legislation, and online databases Provides the Second Edition of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s Glossary of Terms Used in Toxicology, a carefully constructed and peer reviewed collation of critical terms in the science Concludes with a potpourri of quotes concerning toxicology and their use in the arts and popular culture Paired with Volume One, which offers chapters on a host of toxicology sub-disciplines, this set offers the most comprehensive compendium of print, digital, and organizational resources in the toxicological sciences with over120 chapters contributions by experts and leaders in the field

Most of the existing literature on health system reform in China deals with only one part of the reform process (for example, financing reform in rural areas, or the new system of purchasing pharmaceuticals), or consists of empirical case studies from particular cities or regions. This book gives a broad overview of the process of health system reform in China. It draws extensively both on the Western literature in health economics and on the experience of health care reform in a number of other countries, including the US, UK, Holland, and Japan, and compares China''s approach to health care reform with other countries. It also places the process of health system reform in the context of re-orienting China''s economic policy to place greater emphasis on equity and income distribution, and analyzes the interaction of the central and local governments in designing and implementing the reforms. This book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, students of health economics, health policy and health administration, and people who are interested in Chinese social policy. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Health Policy in China: Introduction and Background (189 KB). Contents: Introduction: Health Policy in China: Introduction and Background; Health Systems and Health Reform: International Models; Main Components of Health Reform: Strengthening China''s Social Insurance System; Providing Primary Care; The Hospital Sector and Hospital Reform; China''s National Drug Policy: A Work in Progress; Health Care and Harmonious Development in China: Health Policy and Inequality; Decentralized Government, Central-Local Fiscal Relations, and Health Reform; China''s Health System in the Future: Health Services in the Future: Social Insurance and Purchasing; China''s Future Health Care System: A Mixed Public-Private Model?. Readership: Policy makers, academics, students of health economics, health policy, and health administration, and people who are interested in Chinese social policy.