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dc.contributor.authorFialho, Andre S.
dc.contributor.authorOliveira, Monica D.
dc.contributor.authorSa, Armando B.
dc.date.accessioned2011-11-18T19:55:43Z
dc.date.available2011-11-18T19:55:43Z
dc.date.issued2011-10
dc.date.submitted2011-01
dc.identifier.issn1472-6963
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67078
dc.description.abstractBackground: Recent reforms in Portugal aimed at strengthening the role of the primary care system, in order to improve the quality of the health care system. Since 2006 new policies aiming to change the organization, incentive structures and funding of the primary health care sector were designed, promoting the evolution of traditional primary health care centres (PHCCs) into a new type of organizational unit - family health units (FHUs). This study aimed to compare performances of PHCC and FHU organizational models and to assess the potential gains from converting PHCCs into FHUs. Methods: Stochastic discrete event simulation models for the two types of organizational models were designed and implemented using Simul8 software. These models were applied to data from nineteen primary care units in three municipalities of the Greater Lisbon area. Results: The conversion of PHCCs into FHUs seems to have the potential to generate substantial improvements in productivity and accessibility, while not having a significant impact on costs. This conversion might entail a 45% reduction in the average number of days required to obtain a medical appointment and a 7% and 9% increase in the average number of medical and nursing consultations, respectively. Conclusions: Reorganization of PHCC into FHUs might increase accessibility of patients to services and efficiency in the provision of primary care services.en_US
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-11-274en_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attributionen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_US
dc.sourceBioMed Central Ltden_US
dc.titleUsing discrete event simulation to compare the performance of family health unit and primary health care centre organizational models in Portugalen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationBMC Health Services Research. 2011 Oct 15;11(1):274en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Divisionen_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorFialho, Andre S.
dc.relation.journalBMC Health Services Researchen_US
dc.eprint.versionFinal published versionen_US
dc.identifier.pmid21999336
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dc.date.updated2011-11-15T12:20:10Z
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.rights.holderFialho et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
dspace.orderedauthorsFialho, André S; Oliveira, Mónica D; Sá, Armando Ben
mit.licensePUBLISHER_CCen_US
mit.metadata.statusComplete


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