The 467-page book, titled United States of America Health Systems in Transition, includes “everything you want to know� about the U.S. health care system, according to the observatory, a multi-national organization within the European branch of WHO.

“The book covers areas often missing from other texts such as dental care, mental health care, public health and complementary medicine,� explained Unruh, a professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics. “It’s also unique in focusing on health care in transition, so it includes information about the Affordable Care Act or ‘Obamacare.’�

A final plus is that it is now available online for free (bit.ly/1e1TPEh), she said.

Unruh’s co-authors are Thomas Rice, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Pauline Rosenau, School of Public Health, Health Science Center, University of Texas, Houston; and Andrew J. Barnes, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Unruh wrote two chapters, “Physical and human resources� and “Provision of services,� as well as parts of other chapters, and she reviewed and edited all of the chapters.

United States of America Health Systems in Transition is one in a series of dozens of country-based books on health systems published by the observatory. This is the organization’s first book about the U.S. health system.

The HiT series uses a uniform format to describe health systems worldwide and provides a basis for comparison of the U.S. health system in an international perspective, reported the observatory.

Unruh thinks the publication will be useful as a textbook for classes on the U.S. health care system or on comparative health care systems, and as a reference for anyone interested in learning more about the delivery of U.S. health care.

Thomas T. H. Wan, Gerald-Mark Breen, Ning Jackie Zhang and Lynn Unruh wrote the book after conducting a wide-scale study on the quality of care in nursing homes. The project was funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health.

The authors begin with a review of the history, development and current state of nursing homes. They go on to define the concept of “quality� in a nursing home and discuss how it is measured. They also identify the many factors and issues that affect quality of care, and they discuss the relationship between efficiency and quality of care.

Throughout the book, the authors make recommendations for improving care based on scientific methodology and real-world experience.

The publication is considered “an unequaled, much-needed scientific review of nursing home quality� by Michele F. Bellatoni, a physician with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Wan is a professor of public affairs and associate dean for research in the College of Health and Public Affairs, Zhang is an associate professor of public affairs and Unruh is an associate professor of health management and informatics. Breen was a research associate in public affairs until his death in March 2010.