Journal article
QUALITY IN THE PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP: LEGAL TRENDS AS FACILITATORS OF BUSINESS TRENDS
Widener Law Symposium, v 1, pp 365-547
01 Apr 1996
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: BUSINESS AND LEGAL FACTORS IN THE GROWTH OF MANAGED CARE As the growth of managed care promotes a new kind of physicianpatient relationship, physicians face dramatically altered financial incentives. The new incentives may change the ways in which physicians focus on quality of patient care, since managed care can exert pressures on physicians through capitation and other financial arrangements to limit the amount of health care services that they provide in the interests of cost control. Physicians now realize financial rewards by considering efficiency rather than exclusively quality or quantity of care. The business environment that has spawned the growth of managed care reflects powerful economic forces that are not likely to disappear. Quality of patient care will be addressed not by delaying these changes, but by steering them toward desired outcomes. To accomplish this goal, an understanding of the larger environment promoting the business changes in health care is crucial. Evolution in the business side of health care can be seen as a response to changes in the legal environment. In various ways, recent legal changes have promoted the growth of managed care and related developments, including the new physician-patient relationship. Of particular significance, legal changes have fostered vertical integration of health care services and combinations of providers and payors, which have made the growth of managed care possible. To understand the likely impact that the new health care environment will have on quality of care, it is essential to understand the nature of these ...
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Details
- Title
- QUALITY IN THE PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP: LEGAL TRENDS AS FACILITATORS OF BUSINESS TRENDS
- Creators
- ROBERT I. Field
- Publication Details
- Widener Law Symposium, v 1, pp 365-547
- Conference
- Widener Law Symposium
- Publisher
- Widener Law Symposium Widener Law Symposium
- Number of pages
- 1
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Other Identifier
- 991019299003504721