Rapidly rising health care costs over recent decades have promptedthe application of business practices to medicine, with thegoals of improving efficiency, restraining expenses, and increasingquality. In the wake of the current economic crisis and theadvent of a new presidential administration, even more attentionwill be focused on containing costs in the health care system.Price tags are being applied to every aspect of a doctor's day,creating an acute awareness of costs and reimbursement. Physiciansare now routinely provided with profit-and-loss reports reflectingtheir activity, and metrics are calculated to measure the cost-effectivenessof their work. . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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Dr. Hartzband is an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Groopman is a hematologist–oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School — both in Boston.
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