Evaluating the Healthcare System: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity

This upcoming third edition defines and illustrates the measurement and relevance of effectiveness, efficiency, and equity as criteria for evaluating healthcare system performance. Specific examples of the application of health services research in addressing contemporary health policy problems at the national, state, and local level are presented.

This new edition will include a significant amount of new material. In particular, the book will draw upon a growing body of research on the social and economic determinants of population health, and explore the distinct and complementary roles of health services and public health research and policy in improving the health of individuals and communities.

An important healthcare and public health problem area woven throughout the book in demonstrating the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity concepts in the context of these issues is breast and cervical cancer prevention and treatment and related cancer morbidity and mortality outcomes. This example provides a useful opportunity to explore the medical and non-medical predictors of health and healthcare disparities, the role of primary versus secondary prevention, and the utility of the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity benchmarks in guiding the design of state and federal policy to ameliorate disparities.