Project HOPE

About: Project HOPE is a nonprofit organization based out in Berryville, Virginia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Health care & Population. The organization has 172 authors who have published 269 publications receiving 6548 citations. The organization is also known as: Health Opportunities for People Everywhere & Project HOPE — The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc..

The Care of HIV-Infected Adults in the United States

Abstract: Background and Methods In order to elucidate the medical care of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States, we randomly sampled HIV-infected adults receiving medical care in the contiguous United States at a facility other than a military, prison, or emergency department facility during the first two months of 1996. We interviewed 76 percent of 4042 patients selected from among the patients receiving care from 145 providers in 28 metropolitan areas and 51 providers in 25 rural areas. Results During the first two months of 1996, an estimated 231,400 HIV-infected adults (95 percent confidence interval, 162,800 to 300,000) received care. Fifty-nine percent had the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome according to the case definition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 91 percent had CD4+ cell counts of less than 500 per cubic millimeter. Eleven percent were 50 years of age or older, 23 percent were women, 33 percent were black, and 49 percent were men wh...

The societal costs of severe to profound hearing loss in the united states

Abstract: Objective: Severe to profound hearing impairment affects one-half to three-quarters of a million Americans. To function in a hearing society, hearing-impaired persons require specialized educational, social services, and other resources. The primary purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive, national, and recent estimate of the economic burden of hearing impairment.Methods: We constructed a cohort-survival model to estimate the lifetime costs of hearing impairment. Data for the model were derived principally from the analyses of secondary data sources, including the National Health Interview Survey Hearing Loss and Disability Supplements (1990–91 and 1994–95), the Department of Education's National Longitudinal Transition Study (1987), and Gallaudet University's Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (1997–98). These analyses were supplemented by a review of the literature and consultation with a four-member expert panel. Monte Carlo analysis was used for sensitivity testing.Results: Severe to profound hearing loss is expected to cost society $297,000 over the lifetime of an individual. Most of these losses (67%) are due to reduced work productivity, although the use of special education resources among children contributes an additional 21%. Life time costs for those with prelingual onset exceed 4.6 billion will be spent over the lifetime of persons who acquired their impairment in 1998. The particularly high costs associated with prelingual onset of severe to profound hearing impairment suggest interventions aimed at children, such as early identification and/or aggressive medical intervention, may have a substantial payback.

The Concentration Of Health Care Expenditures, Revisited

Abstract: In two previous publications, we described the distribution of health care expenditures among the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population, specifically in terms of the share of aggregate expenditures accounted for by the top spenders in the distribution. Our focus revealed considerably skewed distribution, with a relatively small proportion of the population accounting for a large share of expenditures. In this paper we update our previous tabulations (last computed using data more than a decade old) with new data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Our findings show that the skewed concentration of health care expenditures has remained very stable; 5 percent of the population accounts for the majority of health expenditures.

The Cost of a Successful Delivery with in Vitro Fertilization

Abstract: Background The use of in vitro fertilization has engendered considerable debate about who should have the procedure, whether health insurance should cover the cost, and if so, to what extent. We investigated the cost of a successful delivery with in vitro fertilization. Methods We calculated the cost per successful delivery with in vitro fertilization (defined as at least one live birth) for a general population of couples undergoing in vitro fertilization and for two subgroups: couples with a diagnosis of tubal disease (who have a better chance of success), and couples in which the woman is over the age of 40 years and the man has a low sperm count (who have a lower chance of success). Information on charges per cycle of in vitro fertilization was obtained from six facilities across the country; delivery rates with this procedure were estimated from the literature. Results On average, the cost incurred per successful delivery with in vitro fertilization increases from $66,667 for the first cycle of in vi...