Articles

Measuring healthcare preparedness: an all-hazards approach

In a paper appearing in this issue, Adini, et al. describe a struggle familiar to many emergency planners—the challenge of planning for all scenarios. The authors contend that all-hazards, or capabilities-base...

Authors: David E Marcozzi and Nicole Lurie

Mortality rates in Israel from causes amenable to health care, regional and international comparison

Mortality from causes amenable to health care is a valuable indicator of quality of the health care system, which can be used to assess inter-regional differences and trends over time. This study investigates ...

Authors: Nehama Goldberger and Ziona Haklai

Evidence-based support for the all-hazards approach to emergency preparedness

During the last decade there has been a need to respond and recover from various types of emergencies including mass casualty events (MCEs), mass toxicological/chemical events (MTEs), and biological events (pa...

Authors: Bruria Adini, Avishay Goldberg, Robert Cohen, Daniel Laor and Yaron Bar-Dayan

The internet, teenagers, and sexual health information: a cautionary tale

Although most Israeli teenagers have access to the web and many have used the internet to obtain health information, they do not have access to accurate and complete information about contraceptives on Hebrew ...

Authors: Freya Lund Sonenstein

Quality of online health information about oral contraceptives from Hebrew-language websites

The Internet is a frequently used source of health information. Adolescents in particular seem to be receptive to online health information (OHI) and often incorporate such information in their decision-making...

Authors: Yehuda Neumark, Lior Flum, Catalina Lopez-Quintero and Ronny Shtarkshall

Know your patient: psychological drivers of decision making

This is a commentary on “Attitudes of legal guardians of ventilated ICU patients toward the process of decision making associated with invasive nonlife-saving procedures” by Michael Kuniavsky, Freda DeKeyser G...

Authors: Linda Emanuel

The legal guardians' dilemma: Decision making associated with invasive non-life-saving procedures

ICU patients frequently undergo non-life-saving invasive procedures. When patient informed consent cannot be obtained, legal guardianship (LG), often from a close relative, may be required by law. The objectiv...

Authors: Michael Kuniavsky, Freda DeKeyser Ganz, David M Linton and Sigal Sviri

Endocrine disrupting chemicals and the growth of environmental health in Israel

This commentary addresses the article by Berman, et al. on reproductive health trends in Israel potentially related to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and on associated health policy decisions in Israel ...

Authors: Henry Falk

Trends in reproductive health in Israel: implications for environmental health policy

Nearly two decades ago, researchers first reported that endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment were affecting reproductive health in the general population. The purpose of this article is to examine...

Authors: Tamar Berman, Hagai Levine, Ronni Gamzu and Itamar Grotto

Doctor-patient communication in the e-health era

The digital revolution will have a profound impact on how physicians and health care delivery organizations interact with patients and the community at-large. Over the coming decades, face-to-face patient/doct...

Authors: Jonathan P Weiner

Providing cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses to patients: The patient’s perspective, a cross sectional study

Today patients can consult with their treating physician by cell phone or e-mail. These means of communication enhance the quality of medical care and increase patient satisfaction, but they can also impinge o...

Authors: Roni Peleg and Elena Nazarenko

Viewing second opinions in terms of recent developments in patient choice

Patient choice has become an increasingly visible part of publicly funded health care systems. Since the 1990s, many individuals have gained the ability to select their insurer in social health insurance funde...

Authors: Richard B Saltman

Orthopedic surgeons’ and neurologists’ attitudes towards second opinions in the Israeli healthcare system: a qualitative study

Second opinion is a treatment ratification tool that may critically influence diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Second opinions constitute one of the largest expenditures of the supplementary health insuran...

Authors: Geva Greenfield, Joseph S Pliskin, Shlomo Wientroub and Nadav Davidovitch

How society treats smoking

Bans on smoking in bars and other public places can make an important contribution to public health. However, for these bans to be effective, they require broad public support. Qualitative studies of the attit...

Authors: Gregory N Connolly

Challenges for the smoking ban in Israeli pubs and bars: analysis guided by the behavioral ecological model

The latest amendment to the ban on smoking in public places in Israel was implemented in 2007, adding pubs and bars (P&B) to the list of public places in which smoking is prohibited. However, smoking in most P...

Authors: Orna Baron-Epel, Carmit Satran, Vicki Cohen, Anat Drach-Zehavi and Melbourne F Hovell

Physicians’ views of performance reports: grading the graders

Quality measurement and feedback programs have become widespread and are looked upon as a cornerstone of quality improvement efforts. Often, such programs are used to motivate consumer choice through public re...

Authors: Bruce E Landon

Monitoring quality in Israeli primary care: The primary care physicians' perspective

Since 2000, Israel has had a national program for ongoing monitoring of the quality of the primary care services provided by the country's four competing non-profit health plans. Previous research has demonstr...

Authors: Rachel Nissanholtz-Gannot and Bruce Rosen

Beyond the trends: policy considerations in psychiatric rehabilitation

Beyond the trends in the use of rehabilitative services in response to a new policy and its fiscal incentives, it is important to consider the effectiveness and quality of the services provided to individuals ...

Authors: Howard H Goldman and Richard G Frank

Trends in the use of rehabilitation services in the community by people with mental disabilities in Israel; the factors involved

In 2001, the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Disabled Law was implemented, defining a basket of rehabilitation services to which people with mental disabilities are entitled.

Authors: Tzipi Hornik-Lurie, Nelly Zilber and Yaacov Lerner

Review essay: politics, power, and universal health care by Stuart Altman and David Schachtman

Authors: David Chinitz

Continuity of care: important, but only the first step

Continuity of care is critical to achieving the best outcomes, especially for patients with chronic conditions. Israel’s strong commitment to primary care as a central organizing concept of the health system, ...

Authors: Janet M Corrigan

The association between continuity of care in the community and health outcomes: a population-based study

The study goal was to assess indices of continuity of care in the primary care setting and their association with health outcomes and healthcare services utilization, given the reported importance of continuit...

Authors: Jacob Dreiher, Doron S Comaneshter, Yael Rosenbluth, Erez Battat, Haim Bitterman and Arnon D Cohen

National patient safety initiatives: Moving beyond what is necessary

Ilan and Donchin have compared Israel and Canada's experiences in setting a national patient safety agenda. We broaden this comparison to include the U.S. experience, and suggest that there are three additiona...

Authors: Eyal Zimlichman and David W Bates

Creating patient safety capacity in a nation's health system: A comparison between Israel and Canada

Injuries to patients by the healthcare system (i.e., adverse events) are common and their impact on individuals and systems is considerable. Over the last decade, extensive efforts have been made worldwide to ...

Authors: Roy Ilan and Yoel Donchin

Tackling obesity requires efficient government policies

Changes in food supply and eating habits, combined with a dramatic fall in physical activity, have made obesity a global epidemic. Across OECD countries, one in two adults is currently overweight and one in si...

Authors: Michele Cecchini and Franco Sassi

Economic effects of interventions to reduce obesity in Israel

Obesity is a major risk factor for many diseases. The paper calculates the economic impact and the cost per Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) resulting from the adoption of eight interventions comprising the c...

Authors: Gary M Ginsberg and Elliot Rosenberg

Giving oocytes to women in need: permitted, forbidden, or pressured? A commentary

There can be no starker contrast in egg donation than between Austria, where it is forbidden, and Israel, where it is encouraged to the extent that some Israeli women go abroad in order to obtain these preciou...

Authors: Françoise Shenfield

Patterns of globalized reproduction: Egg cells regulation in Israel and Austria

Since the successful introduction of in vitro fertilization in 1978, medically assisted reproduction (MAR) has proliferated in multiple clinical innovations. Consequently, egg cells have become an object of deman...

Authors: Carmel Shalev and Gabriele Werner-Felmayer

Planning and managing the physician workforce

National planning and management of the physician workforce is a multifaceted, difficult, and even controversial activity. It is an important subset of overall health workforce planning and management, which c...

Authors: Stephen C Schoenbaum

Medical specialty considerations by medical students early in their clinical experience

Specialty selection by medical students determines the future composition of the physician workforce. Selection of career specialties begins in earnest during the clinical rotations with exposure to the clinic...

Authors: Charles Weissman, Rachel Yaffa Zisk-Rony, Josh E Schroeder, Yoram G Weiss, Alex Avidan, Uriel Elchalal and Howard Tandeter

Israeli registered nurse workforce

This commentary on the article by Nirel, Riba, Reicher and Toren, "Registered nurses in Israel - workforce employment characteristics and projected supply", describes major findings from this important Israeli...

Authors: Greer Glazer

Registered nurses in Israel - workforce employment characteristics and projected supply

Surveys of nursing supplies around the world have furnished a better understanding of the structure of the workforce, helped identify shortages, and plan professional training. This study aimed to examine the ...

Authors: Nurit Nirel, Shoshana Riba, Sima Reicher and Orly Toren

Palliative care: Progress, needs, and challenges

Palliative care is increasingly available and the importance of its role increasingly recognized. International work toward making palliative care a basic human right underscores the growing need to ensure com...

Authors: Barrie R Cassileth

Progress in palliative care in Israel: comparative mapping and next steps

Palliative care was established rapidly in some countries, while in other countries its establishment has taken a different trajectory. This paper identifies core steps in developing a medical specialty and ex...

Authors: Netta Bentur, Linda L Emanuel and Nathan Cherney

Complementary alternative health care in Israel and the western world

Complementary alternative health care presents fascinating challenges and opportunities for health policy and research - from issues of definition to training and licensing, to insurance reimbursement and evid...

Authors: Jeffrey Borkan

Complementary and alternative health care in Israel

The paper explores the patterns of coexistence of alternative/complementary health care (CAM) and conventional medicine in Israel in the cultural, political, and social contexts of the society. The data are dr...

Authors: Judith T Shuval and Emma Averbuch

From shared decision making to patient-centered decision making

Shared decision making involving patients and physicians has gained adherents in Israel and other countries and has many virtues. This commentary argues that medical decision making should ideally be shaped by...

Authors: Harvey V Fineberg

Shared decision-making in Israel: status, barriers, and recommendations

Shared decision making (SDM) - involving patients in decisions relevant to their health - has been increasingly influential in medical thought and practice around the world. This paper reviews the current stat...

Authors: Talya Miron-Shatz, Ofra Golan, Mayer Brezis, Gil Siegal and Glen M Doniger

Quality of care: how good is good enough?

Israel has made impressive progress in improving performance on key measures of the quality of health care in the community in recent years. These achievements are all the more notable given Israel's modest ov...

Authors: Mark R Chassin

Community healthcare in Israel: quality indicators 2007-2009

The National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare in Israel (QICH) was developed to provide policy makers and consumers with information on the quality of community healthcare in Israel. In w...

Authors: Dena H Jaffe, Amir Shmueli, Arie Ben-Yehuda, Ora Paltiel, Ronit Calderon, Arnon D Cohen, Eran Matz, Joseph K Rosenblum, Rachel Wilf-Miron and Orly Manor

To see ourselves as others see us

There is enormous scope to learn lessons from health systems in other countries. The challenge is to learn the right lessons. The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research offers an important new platform where...

Authors: Martin McKee

Launching the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research: Why a new journal? Why now? Why open access?

The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) is a new, open access journal. IJHPR seeks to promote intensive intellectual interactions among scholars and practitioners from Israel and other countries rega...

Authors: Bruce Rosen and Avi Israeli