Abstract:

In this issue of the Journal of Health Care Finance we offer special articles covering a range of issues including public health, health care policy, health care finance and economics. The topics featured here cover areas of particular interest to health care practitioners, policy makers, managers and academic researchers.

I am particularly pleased that this issue enhances the presence of our Journal’s International Section by including diverse topics by authors from around the world, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and other countries. We believe that all readers will learn from the variety of perspectives and research from various parts of the world.

To assemble this special issue—the premier issue of our “online” Journal format—a call for papers was promulgated on an international scale. All papers submitted were subject to blind peer review, and authors revised their manuscripts in accordance with my comments and those of the individual reviewers, who were drawn from various parts of the world with expertise in the public and private health care sectors. I would like to thank the reviewers of this issue’s articles for their essential services; I would also like to thank the Journal’s International Section Editorial Advisory Board.

This issue would not have been produced without the support and patience I received from James Unland, the Journal’s Executive Editor and Publisher. Mr. Unland and I both regard this issue of the Journal as a major step in laying the groundwork for a significant International Section that, over time, grows in respect to the number of articles published, the range of nations covered and the scope of article topics.

I trust that the reader will find the articles in this issue to be interesting, provocative, and a source of motivation for further research and case studies in the fields of health care finance and public health.

Mustafa Z. Younis, International Section Editor & Guest Editor
Tenured Professor of Health Economic Policy & Finance
School of Health Sciences
Jackson State University
Jackson, Mississippi
[email protected]