Based in Chicago, Illinois, BCBS is the result of a merger between Blue Cross Association and National Association of Blue Shield in 1982. Evolution and growth of the concept of managed health care system in the United States most, if not solely, because Blue Cross-Blue Shield plan. <br> Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance companies offering insurance programs in one or two brands.

Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurers offer some form of health insurance coverage in nearly every state in the United States. They provide group coverage to state government employees, and employees of the U.S. Federal government under the national program of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) established by the association on their behalf. Traditionally <br> Blue Cross symbol used for hospital care while Blue Shield for medical coverage. <br> The 14-state WellPoint is the largest Blue Cross-Blue Shield members, and this is a public limited company. There <br> Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation on Health Care which is a non-profit making association.

The Foundation is a centralized agency that coordinates national multi-site health services research. <br> Foundation provides affordable service and contribute for the good of society by focusing on population-based study as an effective way to influence health outcomes, health policy and health service quality and delivery.

A survey conducted by the India office of the international non-governmental organisation, Transparency International, reveals that, according to people’s actual experiences, the health service is the most corrupt service sector in India. It ranks India as one of the 30 most corrupt countries in the world. Indifferent treatment of patients, unofficial payments to providers, lack of patient privacy, and inadequate provision of medicines and supplies are some of the most common demerits and malpractices prevailing in the health services in India.

The survey, conducted with private marketing research company ORG-Marg Research, interviewed some 5000 citizens in a household survey to assess the public’s perception of corruption. It covered 10 sectors with a direct bearing on people’s lives, including education, health, the police, the judiciary, and power utilities.

Too high medicinal cost accompanied by doctor’s consultation fees has made the proper medical treatment to become out of the reach of Indian common man, especially in the rural areas where neither licensed medical stores nor qualified doctors are available and malpractices of the Primary Health Centres, available generally in rural towns only, are well known and are practically forfeiting the veritable purpose of PHC’s there. As a result thereof, not only the market of non-qualitative and banned drugs and medicines is flourishing day by day, but the unqualified doctors also are emerging fast and plundering the poor mass. On account of insufficient availability of generic medicines (patent based medicines which are cheaply produced by another process) the patients are compelled to purchase high priced branded medicines.

An analysis of drug market in India by the ‘World Health Organisation’ (WHO) also reveals that Indian pharmaceutical companies are charging very high prices of medicines from patients. In India, the pharmaceutical companies are earning profits even up to ten times or more of the production cost in case of both branded and unbranded medicines. Not only is this, but the companies, by printing high retail price, are letting the sellers too to earn abnormal profits. Like the ratio between production cost and whole sale price, in many cases the retail price also is ten times or more of the whole sale price. The anti-allergic tablet named as ‘Citrazine’ of ‘Cipla Pharmaceuticals’ is an example. High retail prices of patented and generic medicines are making the general mass to resort to unauthentic and duplicate medicines produced by unlicensed pharmaceutical units. That is why the influence of unauthentic, unlicensed and duplicate medicine producing units in Indian drug market is day by day increasing whereby the people are being badly hit on account of low effectiveness and severe side-effects of the medicines produced by these companies. Many times the doctors too, having been affected by the commission based and gift based sale strategies of the companies producing duplicate medicines, prescribe these medicines without paying heed to the compositions and the bad effects on health on account of the use of these medicines. In some cases the sellers (chemists) let aside the prescription of doctor and sell these medicines especially to the illiterate or docile customers. Not only is this, but the manufacturing companies of these medicines also establish their links even to the government medicine purchasing authorities and seek supply orders. Not only the substandard medicines but even those harmful medicines are being produced and sold in bulks in the Indian market which stand banned at international level.  

Medicines are very precious for human life and have become at present a good part of trade. Therefore, the government should take strong and effective steps to make the qualitative and cheap medicines easily available to the people. The government also should take proper measures against malpractices prevailing in the market of medicines and should instil awareness of medicine consumers against these malpractices. Such organisations should be encouraged which manufacture medicines according to the international standards but at low cost so as to make cheap medicines available in the market. The ‘Low Cost Standard Therapeutics (LOCOST)’ trust at Baroda is a good example of such an organisation. This trust is making cheap production in 90 formulations of about 60 necessary medicines to cater the need of poor and needy patients. Moreover, The launching of the ‘public use medicines easy availability programme’ by the Department of Pharmaceuticals of the central government through 100 public stores of generic drugs, planned to be opened up to December 2009, is worth appreciation.

To solve the problems like that of substandard medicines, harmful and banned medicines and unjustified profit margin a central drugs regulatory system has now become acutely and pressingly needed. The issue of permission as regards to the trading of imported medicines also will be settled by such regulatory system.

The government is encouraging and helping the establishment of small pharmaceutical units. Similar cooperation should be extended to the market extension of their products. The condition of minimum turnover should be relaxed in case of small units. In the present period of prevailing depression the small and medium pharmaceutical industries should be helped through stimulus package to protect them in big market. This type of measures will protect the poor and general medical consumers against their being plundered through high prices by providing them cheap medicines. Moreover, it will help making India a medicine hub.

Studies have shown that health care utilisation has been a long standing concern for most of the developing countries and is sensitive to user perceptions of quality. Patient perceptions of health services thence form an important part of health care quality assessment.  Therefore, ways and means should be found out to give potentiality to important elements of making the health system adequately effective to make health services fully responsive to people’s needs and expectations.

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Sigma Health Care a home health and disease management organization, headquartered in Galveston Texas was established in 1997 by Amer Taha. Taha started Sigma with aa mission, vision and a philosophy all focused on the fact that health and medical care can be provided in the patient home in a more efficient and organized fashion if technology is introduced and utilized properly. As a result; in 2002, Taha started and directed a research and development Department within the organization. The …

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – A Note on Health Services and Drug Market in India

In China, the medical organizations refer to the organizations received Practice License of Medical Institution, mainly including the specialized diagnostic and curative hospitals, health centers, convalescent hospitals, out-patient clinics, clinics, hygiene centers and first-aid stations etc.

The medical organizations in China belong to service industry, directly faced to numerous consumers and supervised by medical executive departments of Chinese government. The regional distributions of Chinese hygiene resources are comparatively balanced, regional distribution disparity mainly showing in the levels of medical organizations, asset scales, revenues and expenditures, private medical organization distribution and foreign funded medical distribution, reflecting the regional economic development differences. Chinese medical industry is mainly concentrated in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong and Zhejiang, accounting for most hygiene resources and higher level technologies.

In 2008, the total expenditures of Chinese medical industry were 1.22 trillion Yuan (174 billion USD), increasing by 8.2% of last year. The expenditures per capita were 915 Yuan (130 USD). 

By the end of 2008, Chinese health organizations were about 300 thousand, in which hospitals were 19,701 (13,111 public hospitals), 40 thousand clinics, 28 thousand community health service centers, 3,020 maternity and child care centers, 3,560 centers for disease control and prevention and 2,591 health monitoring institutions. Compared with last year, the health organizations were increased by two thousand, with the increased numbers of community health service centers and health monitoring institutions and the reduction in hospitals, town clinics, maternity and child care centers and centers for disease control and prevention.

By the end of 2008, the total beds of Chinese medical organizations were 3.97 million, up by year on year 7.2%. Chinese medical technicians were 4.92 million, including 2.05 million licensed assistant doctors and registered nurses of 1.62 million, rising by 130 thousand of Chinese medical technicians, 40 thousand of licensed assistant doctors and 80 thousand of registered nurses compared with the year of 2007. The licensed assistant doctor number per one thousand was increased from 1.54 in 2007 to 1.55 in 2008, as well as the registered nurse number from 1.18 to 1.22. The county doctors and health workers were 1.06 per one thousand agricultural populations.

In 2008, it was predicted that the outpatient visits in Chinese hospitals reached to 1.69 billion man-times, including 1.53 billion man-times in public hospitals, accounting for 90.5%. The inpatient number was 68 million, including 62.3 million in public hospitals, accounting for 91.5%.

For a long time, Chinese medical systems were state-governed, lack of competition and vigor, co-existences of shortage and surplus in resource allocation, low service quality and inefficiency. Thus, the reforms in medical systems fell far behind than other industries. Since, 2000, Chinese government approved the guidelines of medical system reforms and carried out classified regulation in the medical organizations. The perspectives of medical organization market came into open. 

Because of the promising perspectives, Chinese private and joint hospitals were established recently.

Chinese government guided and encouraged the entry of private and other assets into medical organizations by two means: first, asset acquisition, that is the participation of property right and operation means reforms in public hospitals, the acquisition of original stored assets; second, the added investment, that is the direct participation in the investment in the medical industry, constructions and operations, in which asset acquisition accounted for the most.

It is a long time to receive profits in a newly built hospital, at least five years. But if you merged with the present hospitals, the time will be shortened sharply, some of which will keep balance in the revenues and expenditures because of the fixed doctors, nurses and patients in the former hospitals.

The works of Chinese medical service systems will be divided rationally in the future among the community health service centers, comprehensive hospitals and the specialized hospitals, with the community health service centers specializing in the prevention, health care, health education, birth control and easily diagnose chronic disease treatment and rehabilitation of common diseases and  frequently-occurring diseases, the comprehensive hospitals and the specialized hospitals specializing in the disease diagnostics. The large hospitals will mainly diagnose the critical illness and difficult or complicated illness and develop education and research combining clinical experiments. 

More following information can be obtained in this report:

- Development of Chinese Medical Industry

- Sub-sectors of Chinese Medical Industry

-Value Chains of Chinese Medical Service Industry

- Competitions of Chinese Medical Industry

- Investment Opportunities of Chinese Medical Industry

- Trends of Chinese Medical Industry

- Influences of International Financial Crisis on Chinese Medical Industry        

If you are interested in this report, please visit Research Report on Chinese Medical Industry, 2009

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Susan G Komen for the Cure is an organization that raises funds for education, health services, and research related to breast cancer. If you would like to donate, please go here: tinyurl.com Information about walks, races, volunteering, etc. can be found at ww5.komen.org Thanks so much, everyone! … breast cancer susan komen for the cure race walk project awesome vlogbrothers

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Alice is an industry analyst in this field for more than 5 years with depth insight in the recent market trends. Based on the database, Interviews and research methods from China Research and Intelligence, she analyzes the development and opportunities in this industry clearly.

Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that North Carolina has received a $17 million five-year grant to fund a pilot health program that extends health care coverage to uninsured, low income parents — as proposed in her campaign health care roadmap.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the State Health Access Program (SHAP) grant to only 13 states, including North Carolina.  The award will cover more than 1,500 low income, working families in North Carolina.

“One of the biggest steps toward universal coverage for children involves extending coverage to their parents,” Perdue said. “With this grant award, North Carolina can focus on making an affordable health care option for our uninsured, working parents and kids.”

North Carolina has received $1,264,097 for year one to develop a low-cost, limited benefit plan, which will increase to $4 million in years two through five. The pilot program will be administered by the N.C. Office of Rural Health and Community Care and the N.C. Division of Medical Assistance.  The total $17 million federal grant comprises almost the entirety of the project’s funding.

To qualify, families must be uninsured and at or below 125% of the federal poverty level. Parents must demonstrate that their children are enrolled in or have applied for Medicaid or the state’s CHIP, or otherwise have private insurance coverage. Because of this requirement, the program should increase the number of children with health insurance. Enrollees also will be expected to pay a modest premium and small copayments.

“As an unstable economic climate has caused increasing numbers of families to face limited access to vital services to maintain good health and well being, we are pleased to be a part of this program that’s designed to close the gap,” said Secretary Lanier Cansler, Department of Health and Human Services.

The state’s initiative was based in part on studies examining ways to expand access to health care for the uninsured, led by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, a partner organization in the initiative. According to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, almost half of the uninsured are low income adults. Research also has shown that children who are eligible for public coverage are more likely to be enrolled if their parents are covered.

This new initiative will be built on North Carolina’s nationally recognized Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC), which expands health care access through a network of primary care providers.  CCNC offers Medicaid recipients a medical home and community-based care management support and emphasizes prevention, primary care and disease management.  CCNC has been successful in linking more than 947,000 Medicaid recipients to a medical home, improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs.

The initiative also outlines plans to work with private insurers in North Carolina to develop a limited benefit plan, similar to that of CCNC, which can be offered to small businesses by year four of the grant.

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