Even when other health care workers pinpoint a potential change, it's physicians who work out the fine points with colleagues and implement the process. The purpose of the steering committee was really to create a forum where cost containment and quality assurance issues became visible and peer review could take place. Peers are looking at peers and saying, 'You say you can't, but others have been able to. The committee is staffed by Cindy Day. Chairs and clinical service chiefs are playing active leadership roles, as is the medical board, which reviews and approves practice issues at Stanford Hospital and Clinics.
Cost cutting is physician dependent.