Evaluation of a pharmaceutical risk-sharing agreement when patients are screened for the probability of success.

We analyze a game-theoretic model of a risk-sharing agreement between a payer and a pharmaceutical firm. The drug manufacturer chooses the price while the payer sets the rebate rate and decides which patients are eligible for treatment. The manufacturer provides the payer with a rebate for nonresponding patients. We generalize on the existing literature, by making both price and rebate rate decision variables, allowing the rebate rate to be different from 100%, and incorporating 2 types of administrative costs. We identify a threshold for the expected probability of response for classifying the drug as a mass-market or niche type and investigate the optimal solutions for both types. We also identify a threshold for the rebate rate at which the net benefits become equal for responding and nonresponding patients. Through numerical examples, we examine how various parameters impact the drug manufacturer's and the payer's optimal solution.

Measuring worksite health promotion programs: an application of structural equation modeling with ordinal data.

This paper presents a model for measuring the outcome of Worksite Health Promotion Programs through an application of Structural Equation Modeling with ordinal data. We model the function "being healthy" as a vector comprised of three latent or unobservable variables: Health Status, Lifestyle and Stress. Each variable can be measured only indirectly through a set of manifest or observable ordinal indicators. The objective is to derive and analyze the distributions, and changes in distributions over time, of the latent variables on an individual level. The model is analyzed empirically on data from three large Swedish manufacturing firms.

Improving the efficiency of hospital porter services, part 2: schedule optimization and simulation model.

This article is the second of a 2-part series on a study of porter operations at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Part 1 describes the importance of efficient porter services, the system's operation at the time of the study, the challenges faced in carrying out the study, the performance measures developed, the recommendations, and the outcomes. Part 2 describes the simulation model that measured the impact of system changes and the linear programming model developed to improve porter schedules.

Improving the efficiency of hospital porter services, part 1: study objectives and results.

This article is the first of a 2-part series reporting the results of a 7-month study of porter operations at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Part 1 describes the importance of efficient porter services, the system's operation at the time of the study, the challenges faced in carrying out the study, the performance measures developed, the recommendations, and the outcomes. Part 2 describes the simulation model that measured the impact of system changes and the linear programming model developed to improve porter schedules.