No doubt, HCFA will consider many of these proposals already to have the force of law, on the theory that many are restatements of existing law. Health plans will have to focus on results as well as systems to pass muster. The National Committee for Quality Assurance didn't have to reach far to grab what it considers a useful tool to improve its evaluation of health plans. New alliances are emerging in the field of medical research. Before White House affairs knocked national ones off the front page, the new year produced a flurry of debates about medical research.
Medical research is an election year crowd pleaser.
The call for more funding recognizes not only unprecedented research opportunities in genetics and biomedicine, but the fact that research is a driving economic force. Money invested in it is good for American health, as well as American business. In keeping with this theme, medical researchers have joined the managed care backlash. Too, it is claimed, health plans' insistence on covering only standard treatments has constrained the experimentation that research needs to thrive. Profitability of physician practices tends to drop after acquisition by a hospital or integrated health care organization.