Impact of Catastrophic Health Expenditures on Chinese Household Consumption.

China has built a social medical insurance system that covers the entire population so as to reduce the impact of diseases on individuals and families. Although the decline in the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHEs) in China is encouraging, this issue remains important. On the basis of considering selectivity bias and heterogeneity, we applied propensity score matching (PSM) to analyze the 2018 data from the China Family Panel Studies. We assigned CHE households and non-CHE households to the treatment group and the control group, respectively, and used non-random data to simulate a randomized trial to investigate the impact of CHE on household consumption in China. The results of this study indicate that, when the threshold is set at 40%, the consumption of households experiencing CHEs (CHE household) is significantly lower than that of households not experiencing CHEs (non-CHE households) and that CHEs have a significant negative impact on other household consumption and a significant impact on the household property and debt. This effect still exists when the threshold is set lower, with household essential consumption most affected. The occurrence of CHEs leads to a reduction in household consumption and a significantly worsening financial situation for the CHE households, impacting the basic quality of life of the families. Therefore, it is necessary to further reform the medical and health system to reduce the high medical expenses.

The Role of Macroeconomic Indicators on Healthcare Cost.

The progress of healthcare expenses is a striking issue for emerging nations. This is because an uncontrolled increase in healthcare expenses can push the nations to extreme poverty. The study examined the association between public health costs and macro-economic indicators within the emerging economies. Data for the study is extracted from the World Bank World Development Indicators for twenty-one (21) emerging countries spanning from 2000 to 2018. The generalized method of moments (GMM) and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test are employed in the analysis of the study. The main findings of the study demonstrate that tax revenue and labor force participation increase public health expenses and inflation, on the other hand, showed a declining relationship. The study further reveals a u-shaped association between public health expenditure and economic growth. The interactive term between research and development and mortality rate of non-communicable diseases, reveal an increasing relationship. The study establishes that, among all the three models estimated, tax revenue, labor force participation and GDP per capita have positive effects on public health costs. Based on the findings, the study recommends governments to embark on policies that improve economic growth and tax revenue as well as stabilizing inflation. These strategic policies could boost public healthcare expenditure since it has a strong association with macroeconomic indicators.

"Assessment of the social influence and facilitating conditions that support nurses' adoption of hospital electronic information management systems (HEIMS) in Ghana using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model".

BACKGROUND: Hospital electronic information management systems (HEIMS) are widely used in Ghana, and hence its performance must be carefully assessed. Nurses as clinical health personnel are the largest cluster of hospital staff and are the pillar of healthcare delivery. Therefore, they play a crucial role in the adoption and assessment of HEIMSs in Ghana. This report sought to assess the "Social Influence" (SI) and "Facilitating Conditions" (FC) that support Nurses' Acceptance of HEIMS in Ghana using the "Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology" (UTAUT) model. METHODS: This study applied a non-experimental survey design. An electronic platform questionnaire on smartphones was used to collect data on 660 nurses. Statistically, AMOS Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) version 22.0 was employed to examine the research model. RESULTS: "Behavioral Intention" (BI) to HEIMS use was significantly predicted by SI and FC (p < 0.001). Notably, both SI and FC had an influence on nurses' use behavior (UB) with behavioral intention (BI) as the mediator, which explains a total of 42.1% variance in the intention of nurses to use HEIMS. Likewise, UB of HEIMS was also significantly predicted by SI (R2 = 43.2) and BI (R2 = 0.39.6) with both constructs explaining a total of 51.7% of the variance in nurses' acceptance to use HEIMS. CONCLUSION: Nurses' adoption of HEIMS in terms of the UB was influenced by SI and BI, whiles SI and FC had the strongest influence on BI (serving as mediator) of UB to adopt and use HEIMS among the nurses in Ghanaian hospitals.

Old age security in rural China: there is a long way to go.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the current developments and challenges confronted by old age security in rural China. DATA SOURCES: This study is based on the data from PubMed, Elsevier, Wiley, EBSCO, EMBASE, SCI Expanded, ProQuest, Google, and CNKI which is the most informative database in Chinese. STUDY SELECTION: Articles were selected with the search terms "rural", "China", "old", "older", or "elder", "elderly", or "aged", "aging", "security", "culture", "value", "medical insurance" or "community based medical insurance" or "cooperative medical scheme". Related websites and yearbooks were searched as well. RESULTS: The socio-economic development has made the burden of traditional care for the rural elderly heavier than ever, and new challenges are emerging in rural communities, such as poor economic, deteriorating natural environment and health crisis. CONCLUSIONS: The governments should improve the scale and caliber of rural old age security and strengthen regulations with great efforts in developing the rural economy and protecting the natural environment of rural communities.