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- Ahmed, S, et al.
(författare)
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Do employer-sponsored health insurance schemes affect the utilisation of medically trained providers and out-of-pocket payments among ready-made garment workers? A case-control study in Bangladesh
- 2020
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Ingår i: BMJ open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 10:3, s. e030298-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We estimated the effect of an employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI) scheme on healthcare utilisation of medically trained providers and reduction of out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure among ready-made garment (RMG) workers.DesignWe used a case–control study design with cross-sectional preintervention and postintervention surveys.SettingsThe study was conducted among workers of seven purposively selected RMG factories in Shafipur, Gazipur in Bangladesh.ParticipantsIn total, 1924 RMG workers (480 from the insured and 482 from the uninsured, in each period) were surveyed from insured and uninsured RMG factories, respectively, in the preintervention (October 2013) and postintervention (April 2015) period.InterventionsWe tested the effect of a pilot ESHI scheme which was implemented for 1 year.Outcome measuresThe outcome measures were utilisation of medically trained providers and reduction of OOP expenditure among RMG workers. We estimated difference-in-difference (DiD) and applied two-part regression model to measure the association between healthcare utilisation, OOP payments and ESHI scheme membership while controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of workers.ResultsThe ESHI scheme increased healthcare utilisation of medically trained providers by 26.1% (DiD=26.1; p<0.01) among insured workers compared with uninsured workers. While accounting for covariates, the effect on utilisation significantly reduced to 18.4% (p<0.05). The DiD estimate showed that OOP expenditure among insured workers decreased by −3700 Bangladeshi taka and -1100 Bangladeshi taka compared with uninsured workers when using healthcare services from medically trained providers or all provider respectively, although not significant. The multiple two-part models also reported similar results.ConclusionThe ESHI scheme significantly increased utilisation of medically trained providers among RMG workers. However, it has no significant effect on OOP expenditure. It can be recommended that an educational intervention be provided to RMG workers to improve their healthcare-seeking behaviours and increase their utilisation of ESHI-designated healthcare providers while keeping OOP payments low.
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| 2. |
- Stokey, Megan, et al.
(författare)
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Infrared dielectric functions and Brillouin zone center phonons of alpha-Ga2O3 compared to alpha-Al2O3
- 2022
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2475-9953. ; 6:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We determine the anisotropic dielectric functions of rhombohedral alpha-Ga2O3 by far-infrared and infrared generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry and derive all transverse optical and longitudinal optical phonon mode frequencies and broadening parameters. We also determine the high-frequency and static dielectric constants. We perform density functional theory computations and determine the phonon dispersion for all branches in the Brillouin zone, and we derive all phonon mode parameters at the Brillouin zone center including Raman-active, infrared-active, and silent modes. Excellent agreement is obtained between our experimental and computation results as well as among all previously reported partial information from experiment and theory. We also compute the same information for alpha-Al2O3, the binary parent compound for the emerging alloy of alpha-(AlxGa1-x)(2)O-3, and use results from previous investigations [Schubert, Tiwald, and Herzinger, Phys. Rev. B 61, 8187 (2000)] to compare all properties among the two isostructural compounds. From both experimental and theoretical investigations, we compute the frequency shifts of all modes between the two compounds. Additionally, we calculate overlap parameters between phonon mode eigenvectors and discuss the possible evolution of all phonon modes into the ternary alloy system and whether modes may form single-mode or more complex mode behaviors.
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