Healthcare reform

Nevertheless, the Clintons healthcare reform scheme had a deleterious effect on the hiring of new computational chemists. The job market for computational chemists in the United States fell from a then record high in 1990 to a depression in 1992-1994 [119]. This happened because pharmaceutical companies were afraid to expand until they were sure that the business climate was once again hospitable for growth. The healthcare reform proposal was defeated in the United States Congress, but it took a year or two before pharmaceutical companies started rebuilding their workforces. 

Glennerster, H. andM. Matsaganis (1994), The English and Swedish healthcare reforms , International Journal of Health Services, 24, 231-51. 

Development of healthcare reforms is difficult because the need for other reforms is more pressing. A lack of reliable and professional fincmcial data makes it difficult to cissess the cost of current and future healthcare needs. 

HSR has contributed to many proposals for healthcare reform since the 1960s. These include managed care. 

However, the large number of centers flourished until healthcare reform (and associated cost containment) occurred in the late 1980s and 1990s, resulting in significant attrition among poison centers. Today there are only 69 PICs, 54 of which are AAPCC Certified Regional Poison Information Centers. 

New marketing capabilities will have to be built or improved to cope with the consequences of current healthcare reforms. For instance, companies will need to evaluate whether market access functions like pricing and reimbursement should be given the same priority and consideration for resource allocation as registration. 

Given the number and complexity of patient advocate/activist organizations and their preeminence in typical biopharmaceutical areas, e.g., oncology, as well as the strong emotions elicited by healthcare reforms, success in the market will likely go to companies that find ways to address the significant demands of these organizations... 

Payment for technology and the services required for its application are complex and changing rapidly as healthcare reform evolves. It is beyond the scope of this discussion to detail the very convoluted and individual process required to ensure that people with disabilities receive what they need. However, there are some basic concepts to be kept in mind. Professionals need to be competent. The documentation of need and the justification of selection must be comprehensive. Time for a person to do this must be allocated if there is to be success. Persistence, creativity, education of the payers, and documentation of need and outcomes are the key issues. 

Public health informatics was defined first in 1995, in the United States, as the application of information science and technology to public health practice and research. It was said to reflect converging interests in health, healthcare reform, and the advent of the information age. It is hard to imagine that only two decades ago, its aim—to introduce electronic data and information systems, communications tools, and monitoring methods into public health—was still seen by many in the public health community as obscure, complex, impractical, expensive, overly specialized, and not obviously useful [5]. 

Wenzel RP. Healthcare reform and the hospital epidemiologist. In Wenzel RP, ed. Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infections. 3rd ed. Baltimore Williams Wilkins, 1997 47-54. 

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