Physician executive
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The source of malpractice claims, contrary to widely held views, is not simply improper or inadequate medical care. In the majority of cases, malpractice litigation ensues because of negative nonclinical factors and the incidence of an unexpected result in medical treatment. ⋯ Patients who are unhappy with the manner in which they have been treated by physicians are much more likely to sue when the outcome is even moderately untoward. Key to reducing the incidence of malpractice suits is helping physicians understand that attention has to be paid to their behavior.
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Recognizing and dealing with cultural diversity has become a critical issue in health care because of the growing numbers of women, minorities and foreign-born physicians and patients. To avoid a culture clash, physician executives have become more aware of the differences and are working to find ways to help the staff interact more effectively with each other and with patients.
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Physician executive · May 1993
Historical ArticleNational health reform advocates retrench and prepare for Medicare.
With the failure of President Truman's efforts to pass compulsory health insurance for all, national health reform (NHR) advocates began to redirect their political attention to a politically powerful group of Americans who were simultaneously vulnerable from a health care point of view--the elderly. This effort culminated in the passage of Medicare under President Johnson. ⋯ It will also discuss other facets of health reform proposals from the Eisenhower administration. While most proposals never became law, the legislative intent of many of them--outlawing cancellation of policies, a minimum standard health benefit package, establishment of regional health authorities, preference for prepayment plans, and establishment of a reinsurance pool administered by the federal government--is currently under active discussion by the Clinton health reform task forces.
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In response to a need for information on the quality of professional practice and a perceived threat to the preservation of the peer review process, as well as to concern about the cost to society of incompetent physicians, Congress passed the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986. The Act established a legal basis for protecting peer review and quality assurance activities. It also established a national reporting system, the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which is intended to ensure that appropriate information is available to be used in the peer review process.
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Physician executive · Nov 1992
Historical ArticleThe high point of efforts to improve access to health care by "documentation".
The set of articles of which this article is a part has documented the tension between the advocates and the opponents of government intervention in the American health care system. This article will focus on a chapter of American health care history that is almost forgotten and has still never been told in its entirety. The story of the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care (CCMC), which existed from 1927 to 1933, represents the apogee of the factual approach effort to changing health care delivery in America.