Ethics committees review plan policy and recommend changes, and they help to develop policy where needed. For the committee to succeed, management must support it by listening and by serving as committee members. The committee should also include someone with ethics training, community members and plan employees as well as physicians. The optimal committee size varies. It depends in part on the level of participation of committee members.
Family physicians are well suited for ethics committee work.
Orientation and training sessions will strengthen the skills of individual committee members and solidify the team. Some MCOs are reluctant to create ethics committees. More MCOs will create ethics committees to gain a marketing advantage over their competitors. Ethics committees help to identify the ethical issues associated with managed care so that a constructive dialogue can begin. Bedside ethics and corporate ethics must be integrated and cooperatively addressed.