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This study examined the influence of income and health insurance on the health-seeking behaviour of rural residents, addressing the concerns of endogeneity and heterogeneity bias.

A two-stage residual inclusion was utilised to correct self-selection-based endogeneity problems arising from health insurance membership.

This study provides support for Andersen's behavioural model (ABM). Income and health insurance positively stimulate rural residents' use of modern healthcare services, but the effect of insurance risks a downward bias if treated as exogenous. Further, the effect of health insurance differs between males and females and between adults and the elderly.

This study advances the literature, arguing that, within the ABM framework, enabling (i.e. income and insurance) and predisposing factors (i.e. age and gender) complement each other in explaining rural residents' use of modern health services.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2023-0223

Healthcare is indispensable for any civilisation to attain a good quality of life and well-being on both mental and physical levels. The healthcare domain primarily falls under pharma, medical, biotechnology, and nursing. Also, other fields may be aligned with these primary fields. Healthcare amasses the contemporary trends and knowledge of upcoming techniques to improve healthcare processes. The practitioners are primarily doctors, nurses, specialists and health professionals, hospital administrators, and health insurance.

It is a fundamental attribute needed for any society to attain good quality of life and well-being in mental and physical health. It is a fundamental right of people to receive good healthcare where drug treatment and hospitalization are available at a nominal cost, as a requirement of today’s modern era. There appears to be a significant disparity in the availability of good healthcare in rural areas compared to urban in India. Even though we enter the digital era with the facilities offered in Industry 4.0 and other advanced technologies brings about a significant change of overall processing within healthcare systems. During the pandemic of COVID-19, there has been digital transformation with success globally. Healthcare cooperatives are a new norm to support the healthcare systems globally. The chapter discusses Gampaha healthcare cooperative and reviews Ayushman Sahakar scheme in India. The reforms require time to evolve.

Research has found a strong correlation between maternal healthcare and health insurance coverage. But, despite having one of the best health coverage systems in the developing world, Rwanda still faces formidable challenges in provision certain key maternal health services, leading to higher levels of maternal morbidity and mortality. To understand this paradox, this study will examine the association between maternal health services and insurance coverage, utilizing the latest data from the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey.

Using a sample of 6,167 childbearing women aged 15–49 years, a bivariate and multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the paradoxical relationship between health insurance and maternal health services, such as antenatal care, in Rwanda.

The results reveal significant differences in ANC4+ and the timing of the first ANC, which remain low in Rwanda. Despite significant improvements in delivery factors and skilled ANC providers, ANC4+ rates in the country remain the lowest. However, this study found a positive and significant association between ANC4+ and insurance coverage (AOR = 1.64, p < 0.001).

Rwanda has implemented an effective health insurance policy, but there has been minimal progress in the utilization of maternal health services. Therefore, there is a strong need for policy interventions to reduce barriers to healthcare utilization. Additionally, supply-side factors such as transportation, socio-cultural factors and other logistic barriers should be examined in greater detail. These factors may overshadow the impact of health insurance on the utilization of healthcare services in Rwanda.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2023-0059

Purpose: Green computing is a way of using the computer resource in an eco-friendly while maintaining and decreasing the harmful environmental impact. Minimising toxic materials and reducing energy usage can also be used to recycle the product.

Need for the Study: The motivation of the study is to use green computing resources to decrease carbon emissions and their adverse effect on the environment.

Methodology: The study uses a qualitative method of collecting resources and data to address the opportunities, challenges, and future trends in green computing for Sustainable Future Technologies. The study focusses on multiple kinds of cloud computing services collected and executed into single remote servers. The service demand processor offers these services to the client per their needs. The simultaneous requests to access the cloud services, processing and expertly managing these requests by the processors are discussed and analysed.

Findings: The findings suggest that green computing is an upcoming and most promising area. The number of resources employed for green computing can be beneficial for lowering E-waste so that computing can be environmentally friendly and self-sustainable.

Practical Implications: Green computing applies across all industries and service sectors like healthcare, entertainment, tourism, and education. The convergence of technologies like Cloud Computing, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT) is greatly impacting Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) market.

The study aims to address a critical gap in existing healthcare payment schemes and care service pricing by recognizing the influential role of patients' decisions on self-management efforts. These decisions not only impact health outcomes but also shape the demand for care, subsequently influencing care costs. Despite the significance of this interplay, current payment schemes often overlook these dynamics. The research focuses on investigating the implications of a novel behavior-based payment scheme, designed to align incentives and establish a direct connection between patients' decisions and care costs. The primary objective is to comprehensively understand whether and how this innovative payment scheme structure influences key stakeholders, including patients, care providers, insurers and overall social welfare.

In this paper, we propose a game-theoretical model to incorporate the performance of self-management with the demand for healthcare service, compare the patient's effort decision for self-management and provider's price decision for healthcare service under a behavior-based scheme with that under two implemented widely payment schemes, that is, co-payment scheme and co-insurance scheme.

Our findings confirm that the behavior-based scheme incentives patient self-management more than current schemes while reducing their possibility of seeking healthcare service, which indirectly induces the provider to lower the price of the service. The stakeholders' utility under various payment schemes is sensitive to the cost of treatment and the perceived health utility of patients. Especially, patient health awareness is not always benefited provider profit, as it motivates patient self-management while diminishing the demand for care.

We provide a novel framework for characterizing behavior-based payment schemes. Our results confirm the need for modification of the current payment scheme to incentivize patient self-management.

This paper aims to evaluate Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on healthcare utilisation by exploring its heterogeneous effects based on residential status and wealth.

The study used the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS) datasets. An instrumental variable strategy, specifically the two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI), was employed to control endogenous NHIS membership.

Generally, the results show that NHIS improves healthcare utilisation (i.e. visits to a health facility and formal care). Concerning the heterogeneous effects of health insurance on healthcare utilisation, the results revealed that NHIS members are more likely to seek care, irrespective of their residence status. The results further indicate that the probability of visiting a health facility and utilising formal care increases for the poorest NHIS participants. Based on these, the authors conclude that NHIS provides equitable healthcare access and utilisation for its vulnerable populations, who are beneficiaries.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the heterogeneous effects of NHIS on healthcare utilisation across residential and income subpopulations. Splitting the dataset by residential status to examine healthcare utilisation inequality is worthwhile. In addition, analysing utilisation in terms of health care type would show whether Ghana's NHIS may be viewed as welfare-enhancing through increased formal health care utilisation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0330

The public healthcare system faces challenges and limitations regarding the supply and delivery of healthcare services. The private healthcare system is expensive and only affordable for some. Due to the increasing population, developing countries face a greater degree of demand–supply mismatch. The existing healthcare services in developing countries need to be more sustainable due to high out-of-pocket expenditures and low-income levels. The research design used in this chapter is a case study approach based on qualitative data. The study focuses on two objectives: (1) to have a detailed understanding of the nature of healthcare cooperatives in Spain and their contribution to meeting healthcare requirements; and (2) to make suggestions and recommendations for an improved and sustainable healthcare cooperative for developing countries. Inspired by the healthcare cooperative model of Spain and keeping in mind the ground reality of the lack of healthcare facilities and services accessible and affordable in developing countries, the authors have developed a conceptual framework with the foundation of an insurance cooperative. The Spain Model is sustainable for developing countries as it serves the interest of all income brackets, not leaving the low-income population behind. Concepts like cooperative worker insurance embedded in the model can ensure that the beneficiaries receive timely and good quality health services at an affordable price. It empowers individuals by allowing them to make small amounts of investments as premiums to secure a hopeful future for a healthy life.

According to Global Healthcare Security Index 2021, India ranked 66 out of 195 countries, indicating the need and scope for improvement. The Cooperative healthcare system which has been rendering exemplary services is yet to gain visible recognition in India. Given the need for upgrading the health infrastructure in India and providing more affordable health services to the country’s growing population, it would help appreciate the large role that cooperative healthcare can play along with others. This study explores the structure, conduct, and performance of healthcare co-operatives in India, the factors contributing to their success and failure, and the challenges they face. The Health Cooperatives have a strong presence in Kerala and Karnataka and are also coming up in other parts of the country. However, a detailed database of them for public awareness is very limited. The cooperative hospitals can meet the basic requirements of curative treatment in rural and poorly-endowed urban areas. The democratic way in which they function makes them a destination for a financially weaker section. They must retain this feature. The study covers two successful cases which reveal that India needs a more dense healthcare cooperative network. Since cooperative hospitals in tune with the spirit of service run on the principle of being ‘Not-for-Profit’ they need to be supported by the governments more liberally, without however interfering with their governance and administration.

This study assesses the quality of health-insurance services and their impact on customer satisfaction, examining the mediating role of utilitarian value and brand image in this relationship.

Survey data were collected from 345 health-insurance companies' customers selected through convenience sampling and were analyzed using SmartPLS.

Service quality statistically significantly influences customer satisfaction with health insurance in Saudi Arabia, whereas brand image and utilitarian value partially mediate this relationship. The structural path between service quality and brand image was statistically significant and positive. The utilitarian dimension positively affects customer satisfaction and service quality.

This study is significant to the management, as it provides insight into the expectations of health-insurance users. The focus is to gain a competitive advantage by improving customer service and brand image.

This investigation contributes to the field by exploring the mediating role of utilitarian value and brand image in the relationship between health-insurance quality and customer satisfaction based on the information provided by insurance policyholders in Saudi Arabia.