Healthcare has changed immensely over the past few generations—house calls from a local family doctor are a thing of the past, and the deeply personal relationships and bonds between provider and patient are eroding with the demands of for-profit insurance. As a family practitioner focused on cradle-to-grave care, author Barb Regis has a valuable perspective on how patients can experience better outcomes. Topics addressed in this information-packed book include how to choose a primary care physician, how to plan for catastrophic healthcare costs, how to comparison shop for medication, and how to be an effective advocate for yourself and loved ones. As the daughter of a busy family doctor, Barb also shares vivid anecdotes from her childhood which illuminate the heart of a doctor’s calling and demonstrate how insurance can dictate and interfere with quality of care. This book is a must-read for everyone who wants to make informed, effective decisions about healthcare—knowledge is power!

This book is written by a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, therapists, chaplains, business and legal experts. Their collective wisdom concerning aging and passion for person-centric care with promotion of resiliency and maximum functional potential, shine through every page. The table of contents reads like a list of questions ¿I wish my doctor had discussed with me.¿ Topics such as dignity, health promotion, healthcare choices, advance directives and goals of care, and common symptoms and conditions are accurately and readably discussed and emphasized. The section on levels of care and healthcare finances is particularly helpful in clarifying the maze of choices facing seniors and their caregivers as they negotiate our US industrial, financial, and healthcare complex. Chapters covering medication safety, cognitive and mental health concerns, and illness complications are especially well written. If knowledge is power, the insights offered by this book will be a strong ally for seniors and their caregivers to successfully navigate the challenges of aging, making informed decisions and focusing on individualized goals of care.

"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Running a small business provides opportunity for greater success, increased growth, and potentially the chance to move to the global business arena, yet also much more risk. Small businesses not only have less employment, but also less annual revenue than a regular-sized business. With the growth of large corporations and chain businesses, it has become harder to maintain the survival of a small business. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought more pressure onto the already unsteady survival of small businesses, due to forced closures, decreased agility, fewer technological innovations, and smaller customer bases. The Research Anthology on Small Business Strategies for Success and Survival offers current strategies for small businesses that can be utilized in order to maintain equal footing during challenging times. With the proper strategies available to small business owners, small businesses could not only survive, but also excel despite the environment that surrounds them. Covering topics including decision management, new supportive technologies, sustainable development, and micro-financing, this text is ideal for small business owners, entrepreneurs, startup companies, family-owned and operated businesses, restaurateurs, local retailers, managers, executives, academicians, researchers, and students.

Knowledge is Power in Four Dimensions: Models to Forecast Future Paradigms, Forecasting Energy for Tomorrow's World with Mathematical Modeling and Python Programming Driven Artificial Intelligence delivers knowledge on key infrastructure topics in both AI technology and energy. Sections lay the groundwork for tomorrow's computing functionality, starting with how to build a Business Resilience System (BRS), data warehousing, data management, and fuzzy logic. Subsequent chapters dive into the impact of energy on economic development and the environment and mathematical modeling, including energy forecasting and engineering statistics. Energy examples are included for application and learning opportunities. A final section deliver the most advanced content on artificial intelligence with the integration of machine learning and deep learning as a tool to forecast and make energy predictions. The reference covers many introductory programming tools, such as Python, Scikit, TensorFlow and Kera. - Helps users gain fundamental knowledge in technology infrastructure, including AI, machine learning and fuzzy logic - Compartmentalizes data knowledge into near-term and long-term forecasting models, with examples involving both renewable and non-renewable energy outcomes - Advances climate resiliency and helps readers build a business resiliency system for assets

A narrative non-fiction book to educate anyone accessing the American Healthcare System proactively.

Details the steps consumers must take to navigate the confusing world of medicine to improve the quality of care received

Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of how the entire American health care system of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs has evolved over the last two centuries. "The definitive social history of the medical profession in America....A monumental achievement."—H. Jack Geiger, M.D., New York Times Book Review

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.