A cost-effectiveness analysis of teledietetics in short-, intermediate-, and long-term weight reduction.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate the effectiveness of teledietetics in weight loss for 24 weeks and the cost-effectiveness of weight loss between face-to-face and teledietetics services. METHODS: The study was conducted at a community health center and a community dietetics clinic. The study was a quasiexperimental design. Fifty adults aged 20-50 with a BMI ≥23 participated in the study. The face-to-face (FD) group received 12 dietary counselling sessions and recorded their diet in a log book. The teledietetics (TD) group attended three group nutrition seminars and recorded their diet on a Web-based platform. Changes in variables were compared using an independent t-test. Direct and indirect costs were applied to compute cost-effectiveness ratios. RESULTS: At week 6, the FD group showed greater reductions in all variables than did the TD group. At week 12, the effects reversed. At week 24, the accumulated reductions in weight and fat in the TD group were significantly higher than those in the FD group (all at p < 0.0001). The observed direct costs for 1% weight loss and 1% fat loss were USD 28.24 and USD17.09, respectively. DISCUSSION: A dietetic service delivered as a teledietetics model is more cost-effective than the face-to-face dietetics model in weight reduction.

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma: five patients with cutaneous lesion and long follow-up.

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma is a rare locally aggressive vascular tumor of the skin, deep soft tissue, and bone in children, characterized by infiltrating nodules and sheets of spindle cells, and unmistakable resemblance to Kaposi's sarcoma. More than 60 patients with such tumor have been reported so far, and while many have died as a result of extensive disease and severe coagulopathy, the long-term biologic behavior of this tumor remains undetermined. We describe five patients with kaposiform hemangioendothelioma and a mean follow-up of 19 years, ranging from 8 to 35 years. This report emphasizes on the importance of cutaneous lesions being the most commonly affected site, but also for its clinical diversity. Early diagnosis is possible even for a small skin lesion, which may be critical for the treatment of a potentially fatal deep-seated extensive tumor. All five patients are well, and three of them with persistent vascular tumor, which has carried two patients from childhood to adult. Although the behavior of this tumor might have been modified by radiation or interferon in three patients, this series indicates that kaposiform hemangioendothelioma is incapable of metastasis, despite a protracted course of many decades with no tendency for spontaneous regression.

Health care financing in Hong Kong: a case for tax-based financing.

With the new government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region currently conducting a review of Hong Kong's health care financing system, this article argues that the existing tax based system not only works well at present, but is also sustainable in the future. The performance of the system is analysed in terms of cost, health outcomes and access. The arguments for change are discussed, and the case for maintaining the status quo is presented. The author concludes that the way forward would be to fine tune the existing system rather than to replace it with other systems which are known to have higher transaction costs and more serious supply-side moral hazards.

Health care without managed care in Hong Kong.

Although managed care may be more effective than fee-for-service in containing health care costs in the United States, it is less effective in countries with a national health service. In Hong Kong, costs have been contained despite the fact that 95% of general practitioners still practice on a solo, fee-for-service basis. The author describes in detail how the system of tax-based hospitals guarantees universal access without escalating costs.

Factors affecting the supply of private hospital beds in the UK: private insurance, NHS pay beds, or NHS waiting list?

This study attempts to isolate the determinants of private hospital growth in the United Kingdom. Thirty-six variables, representing private medicine, the socio-economic environment, the political and government conditions, and the health care systems characteristics were selected for analysis. Multiple regression analysis shows that the number of independent hospital beds in the UK can be explained almost entirely by the number of persons with private health insurance, the number of NHS pay beds, and the overall bed level. Further analysis reveals that the number of persons with private health insurance can be explained to a large extent by the length of the NHS waiting list.