论我国《公司法》修改中对董事注意义务规则的完善--兼析业务判断规则对董事注意义务的衡平

本次<公司法>修改草案中,有关董事注意义务的条款得以补充.本文以此为出发点,比较了忠实义务与注意义务的不同,分析了普通法判例中业务判断规则与董事注意义务之间的关系,并论述了我国<公司法>修改中引入董事注意义务及业务判断规则的理论价值和现实意义.     

Physicians’ use of medical technology: an analysis of the introduction and subsequent failure of drug-eluting stents

Using data on cardiac patients in Florida hospitals from 2003 to 2007, we analyse the adoption and deadoption of a major new medical technology, drug-eluting stents (DESs). The Food and Drug Administration approved DESs in April 2003 and physicians rapidly adopted the new technology. In March 2006, a presentation was made at the American Cardiology Conference which showed that patients receiving DES in real-world settings suffered higher rates of mortality and myocardial infarction than those receiving stents without drugs. We examine the utilization of DES from April 2003 to the end of 2007. Using a hospital fixed-effects model, we find that board-certified and top-trained physicians were initially quicker to adopt DES. Over time, this effect dissipated and top-trained physicians were less likely to use DES by the time new clinical trials indicated they could be problematic. After the news, board-certified and top-ranked physicians were less likely to change their behaviour. Physicians’ own experience also contributes to the use of technology and the effects are stronger for non-board-certified physicians. We conclude that even within hospitals, physician training and experience play an important role in explaining differences in rates of technology use.     

Impact of a comprehensive pharmacist medication-therapy management service

Abstract

Objective:

This proof of concept study aimed to determine whether a pharmacist-managed medication therapy management (MTM) program in a private endocrinologist physician’s practice reduced healthcare services utilization and related costs 6 months after patients’ discharge from an institution with a transition of care service.     

长期护理保险在山西的市场调查与发展对策研究

因家庭养老功能的弱化、护理费用的高涨及现有社会保障制度的不完善,使得长期护理保险自面世以来倍受人们的关注.这一保险产品目前在山西存在巨大的有效需求,而市场供给却为空白,巨大的供需缺口孕育着巨大的市场潜力.为此保险公司应结合山西地区发展实际,有针对性地改造现有产品,开发新产品,政府也应给予适当的财税优惠政策,并最终应将长期护理保险纳入社会保险范畴.     

理工科院校英语教学中学生人文素质培养的研究与实践

从英语的功用性与人文性的双重价值角度出发,对影响理工科院校英语教学中学生人文素质培养的因素进行深入分析,突出强调了理工科院校英语教学中加强学生人文素质培养的重要意义,并就加强理工科院校学生人文素质的培养应采取的有效英语教学措施进行了探讨。     

Gender Patterns and Value of Unpaid Care Work: Findings From China's First Large‐Scale Time Use Survey

Using data from the 2008 China Time Use Survey, this paper examines the gender patterns of time allocation over paid work, unpaid care work, and non‐work activity and estimates the monetary value of unpaid care work. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique is applied to explore the tradeoff between the three types of activity. The estimates show that, holding constant individual characteristics and regional effects, the total work time of women is higher than that of men by 7 hours per week in the rural sector and by 10.5 hours per week in the urban sector. The monetary value of unpaid care work is estimated by five methods. Depending on the method used, the value assigned to unpaid care work varies from 25 to 32 percent of China's GDP, from 52 to 66 percent of final consumption, and from 63 to 80 percent of the gross products of tertiary industry.     

What is the future of cancer care? A technology foresight assessment of experts’ expectations

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to generate qualified information on technologies that are expected to be relevant to cancer care over the next thirty years (2017–2037). Drawing on the concepts of technology foresight, a methodology was developed for future technology research. Future technologies were identified by consulting editorials of journals specializing in oncology. Nine technologies were selected with the potential to impact cancer care in the future. Additionally, a method was developed for consulting a large number of experts from articles indexed in Thomson Reuters Web of Science. In this survey, more than 83,000 cancer specialists were invited to answer a web survey in which they expressed their expectations about the future of cancer care. The questionnaire was answered by 2408 specialists, 56% of whom stated they were highly knowledgeable experts. Our results show that antibody-related therapies, molecular imaging, and tumor delivery systems are the technologies most likely to be used in cancer care in the next thirty years. The main reasons pointed out for the choice of these technologies were improvements in the prognosis of the disease and improved diagnostic reliability. Meanwhile, knowledge and scientific barriers were highlighted as the main obstacles to the development of the technologies deemed to have more limited chances of success.     

Hospital competition,spillovers and provision of uncompensated care

Using data for California from 2005 until 2010, we investigate to what extent market competition and the presence of non-profits in the area may play a role in equilibrium uncompensated care (UC) levels, allowing those effects to differ according to the hospital’s ownership type. Previous studies have not explored the potential spillover effects from non-profit hospitals into the hospital decision of UC provision. We find evidence that regions with more non-profits experienced larger increases in UC levels, and even more in less concentrated markets. Our results also indicate that UC provision by for-profit hospitals decreases the larger the presence of non-profits in the region, and this effect is magnified when competition is more intense. We, therefore, find no positive spillover effects of non-profits into the hospital decision of UC provision, which may help us to understand the recent trends in UC levels.     

Heterogeneity in dentists’ activity in Taiwan: an application of quantile regression

The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on heterogeneity in dentists’ activity. The heterogeneity is of particular importance because dentists’ responses are likely to differ widely from high to low activity dentists. Quantile regressions provide an alternative and useful method to investigate the differential responses of dentists to various observable explanatory variables. The results reject the null hypothesis of homoskedasticity of individual dentists’ responses. It is shown that time trends for dentists at higher quantiles have greater fluctuations than those at lower quantiles. The clinic–hospital gap in activity at higher quantiles is greater than at low quantiles. Clinic dentists at higher quantiles have much higher numbers of visits and numbers of treatments than those at lower quantiles, but they provide less intensity of care. Dentists in deprived areas have higher activity than those in non-deprived areas, only when they are located at higher quantiles. The results may help policy makers to focus on responsive targets in order to improve the effectiveness of their recent policy of global budgeting.

Managing challenges in social care service triads – Exploring public procurement practices of Dutch municipalities

Buying services in a triad constellation is associated with challenges related to quality control, performance monitoring, and a deteriorating information position for the buyer. There is growing attention for service triads in Supply Chain Management (SCM) literature. However, these studies are mainly theoretical. The studies suggest to manage the identified challenges by monitoring supplier performance, maintaining a strong position in the service triad, developing collaborative trusting relationships, using outcome-based contracts, and aligning incentives between buyer and suppliers. Empirical studies on service triads and management mechanisms are rare, especially in a public procurement context. We study the application of management mechanisms in a public procurement context where 393 Dutch municipalities each had to contract social care service providers at the same time. This context allows us to study which of the management mechanisms proposed in literature are actually employed in a public procurement context, and whether other mechanisms are applied that are not addressed in the literature. We find municipalities deviate from traditional bureaucratic procurement procedures and apply a relational approach to the procurement procedure, including establishing social contracts, to cope with buyer challenges in service triads. Furthermore we identify municipalities apply ex post competition to drive up service quality through tendering framework agreements and allowing clients to choose their care provider of choice. This mechanism of ex post competition through the use of framework agreements has not been suggested in service triad literature before, and may be an effective mechanism in other service triads to address service quality and customer needs fulfilment issues.