The National Committee for Quality Assurance

The quality of medical care provided by managed-care plans is an increasingly complicated and controversial topic.17 Traditionally, the quality of care has been measured by professional judgment, often rendered subjectively in individual cases.8 Now, as health care delivery and financing are being reordered by the rapid growth of managed care, physicians and the health plans with which they contract are being called to greater account for the quality of the services they provide. The scrutiny is coming largely from corporations and governments, which are concerned that as health plans compete, they may stint on services to reduce prices.9 In . . .