Introduction: Defining Informal Payments in Healthcare The acceptability of informal payments (IPs) for medical treatment represents a critical ethical and systemic challenge within global healthcare provision. Informal payments are generally defined as funds, goods, or services transferred from patients or their families to healthcare providers or institutions, outside of officially mandated fees or regulatory channels. […]
Introduction and Definition of Medical Overuse Medical overuse, often referred to as low-value care, encompasses the provision of healthcare services, treatments, tests, or procedures that offer little or no clinical benefit to the patient, or for which the potential harms outweigh the potential benefits. Understanding the underlying attitudes toward medical overuse is crucial, as these […]
Introduction to the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) The Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) stands as one of the most widely utilized metrics in health economics, serving as a critical tool for assessing the value of medical interventions and informing resource allocation decisions across healthcare systems globally. Developed upon principles of decision theory and welfare economics, the […]
The Conceptual Framework of Social Health Insurance Attitudes Attitudes toward Social Health Insurance (SHI) represent a complex psychological and sociological construct crucial for the successful implementation and sustained operation of national healthcare systems. These attitudes are not monolithic; rather, they are multi-dimensional, encompassing cognitive evaluations, affective responses, and behavioral intentions regarding the mandatory pooling of […]