U.S. stocks sink on Greece, cash-outs; S&P 500 up Blue-chips, Nasdaq Composite lower as investors take a breather

By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks slipped Monday, though the S&P 500 eked out its fifth day of gains, as negotiations between Greece and its creditors gave investors an excuse to take profits after a double-digit advance from October lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.09%  ended down 11.66 points, or 0.1%, at 12,708.82, breaking four days of gains. It had risen as much as 44 points to 12,764.49, its highest intraday since May 10, and fallen as much as 55 points.

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At the start of China's Year of the Dragon, JL Warren Capital founder Junheng Li says China stock bubble's roots can be traced back to the U.S. Photo: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.09%  lost 2.53 points, or 0.1%, to 2,784.17. The S&P 500 SPX +0.05%  reclaimed gains in the last hour of trading, closing up 0.62 point, or 0.1%, at 1,316, its highest close since July 26.

Trading was moderate, though choppy. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was about 723 million, while NYSE composite volume was 3.7 billion — under last year’s average of 4.3 billion.

“Our concern here is that we’ve had a lot of good news over the last few months,” said Ken Tower, senior analyst at Quantitative Analysis Service. Read blog on whether U.S. stocks are overvalued.

“When the S&P was at 1,200, it was a more compelling valuation case than today. Let’s face it — the world economic outlook is still very mixed. We’re still faced with all these fiscal problems, slowing growth in China, as well as Europe,” he said.

The three major U.S. stock indexes gained more than 2% last week, rising for the third straight week and extending an advance that’s added about 20% to the benchmarks from their 52-week lows touched in early October.

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“Simple profit taking may be the answer,” said Michael Gibbs, director of equity strategy for Morgan Keegan.

With little U.S. data on the calendar, the focus was on Europe and U.S. earnings, which have contributed to stocks’ recent run.

The Greek government was reportedly close to a deal with private creditors after the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, which is representing international banks that own Greek debt, said Sunday that bondholders have made the “maximum offer” on losses they are willing to bear.

But on Monday, investors received a dose of more unsettling headlines. Euro-zone finance ministers, who were meeting Monday in Brussels, have said Athens shouldn’t expect an increase in a planned bailout loan, said Dow Jones Newswires, citing people familiar with the matter.

Also, a Greek Finance Ministry official said Greece planned to make a formal offer to private-sector creditors on a bond swap deal by Feb. 13, according to Dow Jones.

Greece “is hurting sentiment today,” said Tower. However, much of the worries about Greece’s debt problems have already been priced in, he noted.

“They’ve already agreed to write down so much of those bonds, even if they agreed to write down more, it’s just not that big of a number,” he said. 

Stocks rose in early trading, supported by hope for those negotiations and Europe’s prospects in general.

European stocks closed higher, pushing the Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +0.45%  up 0.5% to 257, near a five-month high. Read more on Europe Markets.

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The euro EURUSD +0.10%  topped $1.30, while the U.S. dollar index DXY +0.00% , which gauges the greenback’s performance against a basket of six other currencies, fell to 79.725 from 80.148 in late North American trade on Friday. Read more on currencies.

Investors have taken heart from recent European Central Bank actions to provide cheap loans to European banks in exchange for a wider pool of collateral, said John Derrick, director of research at U.S. Global Investors.

The central bank’s longer-term refinancing operations, which began in December, have eased concerns about “really negative outlier events,” said Derrick.

“If there’s a default in Greece or some other bad outcome, it minimizes the chance you have a run on the banks,” he said.

Movers: RIM, Bank of America, PetMed

Travelers Cos. TRV +0.44%  and Procter & Gamble PG +1.89% , off 2.1% and 1.9% each, fell the most on the Dow, with 18 of the benchmark’s 30 stocks in the red. Bank of America Corp. BAC -0.55%  led gainers, up 2.5%.

Energy stocks gained the most among the S&P 500’s ten sectors, highlighted by advances in natural-gas plays Southwestern Energy Co. SWN +0.03% , Range Resources Corp.   RRC -0.17%  and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. COG +6.48% . Read more on Energy Stocks.

Netflix Inc. NFLX +0.63%  fell 6.3%, leading index decliners.

U.S.-listed shares of Research In Motion Ltd. RIMM -0.13%   CA:RIM -9.11%  fell 8.5% after the company its co-chief executives had resigned. Read more on RIM

Among smaller-cap stocks, PetMed Express Inc. PETS +11.00%  rallied 11% after third-quarter profit fell but beat expectations. Read more on PetMed.

Stocks in Japan finished flat on Monday, with the absence of Hong Kong and other Asian markets, closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Read Asia Markets.

In commodities, crude-oil futures for March delivery CL2H +0.23%  rose 1.3% to $99.58 a barrel. The 27-nation European Union on Monday agreed on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions linked to the country’s nuclear program. Read more on oil futures.

Futures for February gold GC2G -0.14%  rose $14.30 to $1,678.30 an ounce. Read more in Metals Stocks.

Laura Mandaro is a MarketWatch editor, based in San Francisco.

New route for Alberta oil: Northward? Commentary: Oil, unlike water, sometime flows upward

By Bill Mann, MarketWatch

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (MarketWatch) — The latest possible route to get Alberta oil to overseas markets will have many scrambling for an atlas or Google Maps. Where pelts once travelled south, petroleum may soon travel north.

With the Keystone-XL TRP +1.40%  pipeline from Alberta to Texas now stalled by U.S. President Barack Obama, and Enbridge’s Northern gateway pipeline to the seaport of Kitimat, B.C., now mired in months of public hearings just begun, Canadian and U.S. oil companies are taking a hard look at shipping the oil north, using a mighty inland river system navigable by large tankers and once used by the Hudson Bay Company to ship beaver pelts south to market.

The Mackenzie, Slave and Athabasca Rivers could bring oil and pipeline equipment from the Arctic or Hudson Bay right into the heart of Alberta, where the oil sands are. There’s only one hitch — a series of four Slave River rapids up by the border of Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

That’s where an existing 24-mile-long portage road at Fort Simpson, Alberta (current population: 8) could come into play. The U.S. Army used it to truck oil north to a short-lived, expensive pipeline for a year near the end of World War II.

Tiny Fort Fitzgerald was once a bustling seaport, handling goods from the Hudson Bay Company, and it could boom again soon with Alberta’s oilsands production slated to increase over the next three years to three million barrels a day from about 1.7 million. Alberta needs to diversify its market for bitumen beyond the U.S. Midwest, and using a trusty old fur-trading river system may be the best way, given the current political climate, to reach Asian markets. Fur-trading routes, which once built western Canada, may soon help sustain it.

Those pesky rapids

Were it not for the 12 miles of rapids near remote Fort Fitzgerald, large ocean vessels could ascend the Mackenzie River, cross Great Slave Lake, continue up the Slave and Athabasca rivers to the geographical centre of Alberta — the town of Athabasca.

Oil, unlike water, can sometimes flow upward, towards markets — in this case, up a mighty river system that drains into the now-navigable Arctic and Hudson Bay.

Using the Slave River system and the portage near the port may also be the way for Imperial Oil to get its heavy drilling equipment now stranded in an Idaho port up to Fort McMurray, Alberta, the epicenter of the booming oilfields. Local opposition in Montana has kept much of that huge, Asian-made equipment off two-lane surface roads leading up to Fort McMurray.

“Imperial continuously assesses a variety of transportation routes to serve its operations and opportunities in the oilsands,” said Pius Rolheiser, Imperial’s public and government affairs spokesman. “We assess the viability of transportation routes on the basis of safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness.”

It may seem strange to someday see large ships sailing past Alberta wheat fields heading north from Fort McMurray (another Hudson Bay fur-trading post in pre-oil times) up the Athabasca River to Fort Fitzgerald and the mighty Slave River, but it’s no stranger than seeing ocean-bound ships sailing past California farm fields into the interior port of Sacramento, many miles inland from the Pacific.

“We need to look at as many options as possible,” says Travis Davies of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, “mostly in terms of moving equipment and components.”

As the producers of oil from the bituminous sands continue to expand their operations, Davies notes, “We’ve got an amazing resource here and we need to continue to explore all kinds of ways to get it to market.”

Even to the point of re-invigorating a defunct seaport in the far-north Canadian hinterlands. Press reports in Canada are hyping tiny Fort Fitzgerald — where, as the old joke goes, both city-limits signs are on the same post — as a possible oil-boom town.

The need to get oil to markets has produced some interesting scenarios, and shipping it north, portaging it by truck, and then shipping it even further north is only the latest one.

Oil tankers — in landlocked Alberta? Don’t laugh...it could happen.

Bill Mann is a MarketWatch columnist, based in Port Townsend, Wash.

How to save Research in Motion Commentary: An open letter to Thorsten Heins, new CEO

By Brett Arends, MarketWatch

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — An open letter:

Dear Thorsten Heins,

Congratulations! You’ve just become the new chief executive of Research In Motion, the BlackBerry maker.

In your first 24 hours on the job you’ve managed to wipe another $600 million off the company’s dwindling value. In case you hadn’t noticed, the stock RIMM -0.13%  fell another 7% on your first day.

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Thorsten, this is embarrassing.

On Wall Street, news of a big management shakeup should have sent your stock leaping. The short sellers would have rushed to cover, and analysts would have started penciling in all sorts of bullish possibilities. A company with a new CEO has a lot of “optionality.”

Instead Wall Street is already giving you a big thumbs-down.

Your first conference call, Monday morning, was a disaster. Apparently, you think everything was pretty much OK before you took over.

You expressed confidence in the company’s existing strategic direction, and vowed no “seismic change.”

On the call an analyst pointed out that you’d been part of the senior management team for the past few years, and asked what you weren’t able to do then that you are able to do now. Your response, according to a live blog from Engadget:

“I don’t think that there is a drastic change needed. We are evolving our tactics and processes. I don’t feel that I was held back in any way to do what I needed to do.“

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This defies belief. RIMM stock was about $110 when you joined the company, in December 2007.

Today: $15.88.

This is like someone being appointed as the new captain of the Titanic, and saying, “Well, I wouldn’t really have done anything differently.”

Full steam ahead?

You also said you were looking for a new marketing honcho, and that you’d be open to “licensing” your operating system to other companies.

Oh, brother.

It would be ominous indeed if you thought your biggest problem was with marketing. As for licensing your software — don’t flatter yourself. Your company is giving off the stench of death. Meanwhile, there are already three operating systems out there that are better than yours — Apple’s AAPL -0.28%  iOs, Google’s GOOG +0.03%  Android, and Microsoft’s MSFT +0.20%  Windows Phone 7.

Thorsten: It’s not all bad.

Yes, you can save this company. But to do that you need to do three things. Three radical things.

1. Go with the hurry-up offense.

Anyone counseling patience and “steady as she goes” is a fool. The crisis is much worse than it seems from your new executive office.

You have one shot at fixing this company. One.

No, RIMM isn’t going to run out of money — not yet, anyway. As of November, you still had about $7.2 billion in cash, receivables and other liquid assets, compared to just $3.8 billion in liabilities.

But so what? Your biggest problem isn’t money, it’s time. And you are running out of that, fast.

Research In Motion

Blackberry Bold

Your brand name is fading. Your market share is slumping. You’re actually below 10% of smartphones in the U.S., according to reports. And this industry moves fast. Just as with Nokia, RIMM is already yesterday’s news. If you hang around much longer you’ll be finished for good.

Don’t believe me? Try this. Stop listening to people inside the company. Stop listening to advisers, colleagues and friends. Instead, go out to Best Buy incognito, on your own, and have a look at what’s on offer and how your competitors stack up. Look at the products people are buying and what they’re talking about.

Market as undervalued today as in 1990 Commentary: Norm Fosback is as bullish today as 20 years ago

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — The stock market represents better value today than at any time in the last 20 years?

That certainly is not something you’ve been reading recently in this column. For example, I’ve argued that, from a very short-term point of view, there is too much complacency out there — which is bearish from a contrarian point of view. ( Read my Jan. 18 column, entitled “Worrisome complacency.” )

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And I’ve also pointed out that some longer-term valuation measures with good track records — such as the Cyclically-Adjusted Price Earnings Ratio, or CAPE, made famous by Yale University Professor Robert Shiller — show the market to be closer to the overvalued end of the spectrum than undervalued. ( Read my Jan 6 column, entitled “What if the 2009 bull market is still alive?” )

But it’s important for everyone, and especially contrarians, to consider contrary points of view. And this is particularly the case when the point of view is being advanced by someone with as long and eminent a record as Norm Fosback.

Fosback, for those of you who don’t know, has been a close and scientifically minded student of the stock market for nearly five decades. For three decades he was the head of the Institute for Econometric Research, during which he authored a widely followed investment textbook entitled Stock Market Logic and edited several investment advisory services. He currently publishes a service called Fosback’s Fund Forecaster.

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In the latest issue of that service, published late last week, Fosback boldly states that “the market’s fundamental position has evolved to the most favorable alignment in 20 years.”

His econometric model is projecting that the stock market will rise by 19% over the next 12 months, and 89% over the next five years. That five-year rate is equivalent to nearly 14% per year on an annualized basis.

While Fosback’s model incorporates numerous different indicators that he has found to have predictive abilities, he says that the major underlying issues for the U.S. market right now are “domestic corporate profits, valuations of domestic stocks, and Federal Reserve policy.” This is what Fosback has to say about each:

• Corporate profitability is an all-time high. “Not only have pretax profits soared to match their highest levels in history, but plunging effective corporate tax rates have sent after-tax corporate profits soaring to even greater heights compared with historical norms... With after-tax profits running at 10% of the nation’s $15-trillion GDP, net additions to business cash coffers are running at least 1-1/2 trillion on an annual basis, even after dividend payouts to stockholders. At the moment, that is effectively doubling cash holdings on an annualized basis. Liquidity, in other words is enormous.”
  
• Despite these record profits, the P/E ratio on the S&P 500 index is back to where it stood in 1990 (when calculated on the basis of operating earnings). The decade of the 1990s, of course, was one of the most bullish in U.S. stock market history.
  
• “Monetary policy [is] still in an aggressive easing mode.” Interest rates remain “at record lows” and the money supply is expanding.
  

What about Europe? Won’t slowing economic growth in that crucial region sabotage the U.S. market, even if it were otherwise poised for a major bull market?

Fosback thinks not, arguing that the media’s obsession with Europe is little more than a “sleight of hand: Look over there ... while the real action is right here.”

Are there any flies in the ointment?

Of course.

Ironically, though, the major such fly that Fosback acknowledges derives from how good things otherwise are right now for corporate America: “The only meaningful negative investors can take away from the current corporate profit and tax environments is that they are so favorable it is almost inconceivable they can get any better; in other words, the path of least resistance for corporate profits going forward may be down, simply because it is almost unimaginable it can get any better.”

But even if corporate profit growth slows to a standstill, which he thinks is most unlikely, the market is still likely to go up because of rising P/E ratios.

Needless to say, you might not agree with Fosback’s cheery assessment. But regardless, and especially if you don’t, you need to have good answers for why the factors he mentions aren’t as bullish as he believes them to be.

Click here to learn more about the Hulbert Financial Digest.

Mark Hulbert is the founder of Hulbert Financial Digest in Annandale, Va. He has been tracking the advice of more than 160 financial newsletters since 1980.

Health-care expenses to rise 8.5% in 2012: study Medical inflation accelerates as recovery gains momentum

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Employers can expect to see an acceleration in health-care cost increases in 2012, with expenses rising 8.5% next year, according to a study released Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The 30-page study says that the recession put a lid on health-care costs, which should keep the inflation rate to 8% for 2011, but those price hikes are getting steeper as the recovery gains momentum.

“Now, a few months into 2011, employers and health plans say utilization remains somewhat deflated, but they’re already worried about a rebound in 2012,” the study says. “Add to this recessionary effect the changes brought on by health reform, and the variables affecting cost trends in 2012 become an interesting blend of reactions.”

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The U.S. is pressuring the International Monetary Fund to name a managing director to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who remains in a New York City jail on attempted-rape charges. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

But an 8.5% medical inflation rate is a fairly moderate rate.

“These increases aren’t as great as some years,” said Mike Thompson, a principal at Pricewaterhouse. He noted that over the last decade, there have been several instances where medical inflation has exceeded the double-digit mark.

“We do see fluctuation from year to year,“ he said.

Pricewaterhouse surveyed 1,700 employers from 30 industries along with hospital executives and health-plan actuaries. It found that three main factors will drive up medical costs next year.

First, consolidation among hospitals and physicians is snowballing. While that should increase efficiency, payers worry about the impact of consolidation on rates. Second, inpatient costs for Medicare recipients will rise 3.3 percentage points more than hospital rates. And post-recession stress has taken a toll on worker health.

But the study says that employers are expected to try to keep a lid on costs between now and next year, and the actual medical inflation rate for employers should be closer to 7%.

It also says that a number of factors will deflate medical pricing, including cost-sharing by employees through such vehicles as higher deductibles, brand-name drugs losing their patents and adding costs to employees who venture out of the health network for care.

The study also says that spending by insurance companies has grown the most for outpatient and inpatient care over the last five years, along with miscellaneous spending. There was slower growth in drug costs and physician expenses. But inpatient care and physician costs still comprised the biggest chunk of health expenses, each at more than 30%.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, is expected to have little impact on rates, though it is pressuring employers to be more cost conscious about health care.

Russ Britt is the Los Angeles bureau chief for MarketWatch.

The Crazy Sign Your Sperm Count Is Low

The Advert : 4checks.com-Free Shipping and Handling on All Personal Checks with code DWF008 Women are naturally drawn to men with deep voices because a macho tone reminds them of all things manly. And while talking like Barry White packs its fair share of benefits, it could also mean bad news for your sperm.

A new study from the University of Western Australia found that guys with a low-pitched voice had reduced concentrations of sperm in ejaculations. The possible connection: “Testosterone, which deepens a man’s voice, also suppresses sperm production when it’s at high levels,” says lead researcher Leigh Simmons, Ph.D., an evolutionary biology professor at Western Australia.

Meanwhile, the pitch of your voice isn’t the only health clue your body is sending you. Here are five other surprising body quirks that may be early signs of health problems.

Finger Length
As Men’s Health previously reported, size matters—when it comes to your fingers. A study published in the British Journal of Cancer found that men whose index fingers were longer than their ring fingers were 33 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer. As it turns out, people who have longer index fingers were exposed to less testosterone when they were a baby in their mother’s womb, researchers say. This may help protect against prostate cancer later on.

More from MensHealth.com: What Your Hand Says About Your Penis

Nail Color
Healthy nails are usually smooth and spotless, but “redness under your fingernails can be a sign of a collagen vascular disease like lupus,” says Neil Sadick, M.D., a clinical professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College. “It gives you inflammation of the blood vessels, and that can present as redness or blood vessels under the nail itself.” Research has also found that white nails are linked with liver issues, and unusual curvatures can even be a sign of lung cancer.

Earlobe Wrinkles
Diagonal creases on your earlobes may be a sign of potential cardiovascular problems, according to a study from the University of Chicago. Researchers found participants with a crease (and no prior coronary artery disease) were nearly eight times more likely to experience cardiac events as those without. Earlobes may give a reflective health warning because of the similarities between the blood vessels that supply the earlobes and the heart, researchers speculate. Or creases may just be a result of aging.

Sense of Smell
The inability to identify certain orders may be a warning sign of Parkinson’s Disease. A study led by the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders and the University of Pennsylvania found that when given a small test, patients with Parkinson’s could only correctly identify half of the smells presented. An additional study in the Annals of Neurology found that this impaired sense of smell can predate Parkinson’s by about 4 years.

More from MensHealth.com: A Man Without Taste

Hair
Although going bald is natural, it could also be a clue to more serious conditions. “Hair loss can be a sign of thyroid disease or thyroid cancer,” Sadick says. “If you have an overactive thyroid, or a thyroid that’s not functioning well, you can get hair loss as a presenting sign of it.” Hypothyroidism may also manifest itself in unusual thinning of the eyebrows. Plus, “sometimes men can have very fine hairs along their temples early in life, and that can be a sign of impending genetic hair loss,” says Sadick.

More from MensHealth.com: The Biggest Health Problems for Men

Additional reporting by Maria Masters

Allied health professions

Allied health professions are clinical health care professions distinct from dentistry, nursing and medicine. One estimate reported allied health professionals make up 60 percent of the total health workforce. They work in health care teams to make the health care system function by providing a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic and direct patient care and support services that are critical to the other health professionals they work with and the patients they serve.
a. Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body.[1] Dentistry is widely considered necessary for complete overall health. Doctors who practice dentistry are known as dentists. The dentist's supporting team – which includes dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental technicians, and dental therapists – aids in providing oral health services.
b. Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death.
Nurses work in a large variety of specialties where they work independently and as part of a team to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care. Nursing Science is a field of knowledge based on the contributions of nursing scientist through peer-reviewed scholarly journals and evidenced-based practice.
c. Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness.
Contemporary medicine applies health science, biomedical research, and medical technology to diagnose and treat injury and disease, typically through medication or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints & traction, prostheses, biologics, ionizing radiation and others. The word medicine is derived from the Latin ars medicina, meaning the art of healing
Allied health employment projections
Projections in the United States and many other countries have shown an expected long-term shortage of qualified workers to fill many allied health positions. This is primarily due to expansion of the health industry due to demographic changes (a growing and aging population), large numbers of health workers nearing retirement, the industry’s need to be cost efficient, and a lack of sufficient investment in training programs to keep pace with these trends.
Studies have also pointed to the need for increased diversity in the allied health workforce to realize a culturally competent health system in the United States and elsewhere.
Workforce and health care experts anticipate that health services will increasingly be delivered via ambulatory and nursing care settings rather than in hospitals. According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), the health care industry consists of three main sub-sectors, divided by the types of services provided at each facility:
• Hospitals: Primarily provides inpatient health services and may provide some outpatient services as a secondary activity.
• Ambulatory health care settings: Primarily provides outpatient services at facilities such as doctors’ offices, outpatient clinics and clinical laboratories.
• Nursing and residential care facilities: Provides residential care, such as community care for the elderly or mental health and substance abuse facilities.
In the US, a larger proportion of the allied health care workforce is already employed in ambulatory settings. In California, nearly half (49.4 percent) of the allied health workforce is employed in ambulatory health care settings, compared with 28.7 percent and 21.9 percent employed in hospital and nursing care, respectively.
Advancements in medical technology also allow for more services that formerly required expensive hospital stays to be delivered via ambulatory care. For example, in California, research has predicted the total consumption of hospital days per person will decline from 4 days in 2010 to 3.2 days in 2020 to 2.5 days in 2030. In contrast, the number of ambulatory visits per person will increase from 3.2 visits per person in 2010 to 3.6 visits per person in 2020 to 4.2 visits in 2030.
In developing countries, many national human resources for health strategic plans and international development initiatives are focusing on scaling up training of allied health professions, such as HIV/AIDS counsellors, clinical officers and community health workers, in providing essential preventive and treatment services in ambulatory and community-based care settings.
With this growing demand for ambulatory health care, researchers expect to witness a heavier demand for professions that are employed within the ambulatory sector and other non-hospital settings — in other words, allied health.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_health

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