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Drug abuse and addiction continues to negatively impact many lives in this country. The United States health care system has grappled with how to best serve this vulnerable population. Since the personal and societal costs of addiction are high, all recent iterations of the United States strategic health plans (such as Healthy People 2010) have prioritized this area for improvement. At the local level, health care providers who care for those with addictions are challenged with shrinking insurance coverage for services, a difficult patient population, lack of treatment options, growing ranks of indigent patients, as well as a plethora of additional management challenges. It is known that successful treatment is integrally linked with patient satisfaction with services. The most critical factors in successful addiction treatment (from a patient's perspective) are (1) their belief that the counselor cares about them and, (2) their belief that they can recover. This paper reports a case study in the use of a patient satisfaction survey as a quality management/service refinement tool within a methadone treatment setting. Results indicate that the use of the survey itself provides patients with a tangible cue supporting the presence of the critical success factors. Further, the use of a survey provides a baseline for future measurements and trending. The paper concludes with a discussion of the marketing and organizational implications of incorporating the patient satisfaction survey into the ongoing delivery program for addiction services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sought to describe from a set of demographic and lifestyle characteristics, the person who is significantly and positively impacted by preventive health care (PHC) information. Based on past research, six two-part hypotheses (PHC information and lifestyle) were developed, with a total examination of 12 possible relationships. Five of the six hypotheses were at least partially accepted, as were eight out of the 12 possible relationships. In addition, there was at least one significant relationship with a demographic variable in 12 of the 13 lifestyle change variables. It can be said with confidence that persons who are seeking and are positively impacted by PHC information are better educated, have higher incomes, are female, usually older, and married. The most important lifestyle changes emanating from PHC information are “changes in eating habits,” “having periodic physician checkups,” “utilizing nutritional labeling,” and “joining a health club or wellness center.” “Changes in social life,” “sleeping habits,” “getting regular exercise,” and “attendance at health fairs and seminars” were also associated with the utilization of PHC information, but to a lesser extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospitals are a significant part of the burgeoning healthcare sector in the United States (U.S.) economy. Despite the availability of what some describe us the world's best healthcare, the U.S. suffers from wide discrepancies in healthcare provision across hospitals and regions of the country. Specifically, capacity, utilization, quality, and even financial performance of hospitals vary widely. Based on secondary data from 533 hospitals in the adjoining states of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, this study develops several comparative metrics that enable benchmarking, which, in turn, leads to several inferences and implications for hospital administrators. The paper concludes with implications for hospital administrators and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]