1,721,001 research outputs found
The impact of conventional cost-effectiveness analysis on pricing dynamics in the market of new medicines: a proposed countervailing approach
No full textBackground: : Countries using cost-effectiveness ratio as a decision tool for price and reimbursement decisions still witness accelerating price increases. The objective of this paper is to propose a change in the application of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio as a criterion for price policy. Research design: : We develop a model that sets a price for marginal effectiveness equal to the marginal willingness to pay, but it reimburses average effectiveness according to the size of increased QALY gain. Results: This new formula also allows to split the economic value of drug between patients and the industry and creates a reward to invest into QALY gains. We show some empirical data of the new prices derived from the application of the new formula, as well as the implications in terms of the consumer and manufacturer ́s surplus based on two potential scenarios of the incentives generated by this new formulation. Discussion: We propose small increases in life expectancy be priced differently from substantial as a way of containing the price dynamics. Conclusions: : A change in the application of the ICER threshold will help to reduce the price pressure on public budgets
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Modello di calcolo della convenienza economica per l’ospedale Il caso dei cateteri cardiaci rigenerabili versus i cateteri monouso
No full textLa rigenerazione di dispositivi medici è potenzialmente una fonte di risparmi significativi per gli ospedali. In particolare, i cateteri per angioplastica coronarica percutanea (Ptca) e quelli per elettrofisiologia ad ablazione (Ep) sono diventati una voce di spesa rilevante per gli ospedali. Abbiamo così elaborato un modello del costo dell’impiego di cateteri monouso confrontato con cateteri rigenerabili per l’interventistica in cardiologia. È stato utilizzato un algoritmo per simulare i costi relativi alle due alternative. Il modello è stato costruito utilizzando i dati dell’Ospedale Santa Chiara di Trento. Il riutilizzo dei cateteri per Ptca comporterebbe un risparmio di € 27.672 pari all’8,1% dei costi sostenuti con i cateteri monouso; aumentando il numero di riutilizzi fino a 3 dello stesso catetere, il risparmio è più che doppio. I risparmi sono più elevati per i cateteri per Ep, circa € 53.191, pari al 33,6% dei costi con i cateteri monouso.
L’utilizzo di questo modello può fornire la dimensione del risparmio per ciascun ospedale dotato di centri primari ove si effettuano Ptca e elettrofisiologia
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Reprocessing single-use cardiac catheters for interventional cardiology. A cost-minimization model for estimating potential saving at departmental scale and national level
Full text linkBackground: The utilization of single-use percutaneous catheters (SUDs) is a common practice in interventional cardiology, but the increasing of cardiac interventions and the consequent economic load demand for assessing SUDs’ reuse. The study aimed at estimating the potential saving for Italian cardiology departments in the hypothesis that reprocessing and reuse of SUD is performed by guaranteeing safety and efficiency of the reconditioned device as high as the new marketed one.
Methods: A cost-minimization model was applied from the perspective of the health national service. Input parameters for the model were settled by reviewing published data on technical, hygiene and functional properties of reprocessed electrophysiology (EP) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) catheters. Potential saving at department level was calculated as percentage of the actual expenditure for purchasing single-use devices. Two-ways sensitivity analysis was conducted on main cost drivers. Finally, saving at national level was estimated.
Results: The revision of technical and safety data showed the feasibility of reprocessing and reuse of EP and PTCA catheters under determined constrains. Potential savings of 39%, and 12% were calculated at department level for EP and PTCA catheters, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed saving was dependent primarily on departmental workload. Major variations in saving occurred in the range between one and 200 catheters per year. The cut-off between benefit and charges was also related to regeneration rate and maximum number of uses. The estimate of potential saving at national level ranged in the interval from €19.85M to €24.24M.
Conclusions:When safety and efficiency is assured by certified reuse processing, substantial saving could be achieved both at departmental and national level contributing to optimize budget allocation for the healthcare system
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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