Call for hospital physicians to increase their involvement

Abstract

P rimary-care physicians should take a backseat and let hospital physicians take over once their patients have been hospitalised, according to a recent US study that compared managed-care and traditional approaches to the management of patients in hospital. Greater hospital physician involvement is one of the principal aspects of the managed-care approach. A preliminary analysis of data from the US study indicated that the adoption of a managed-care approach led to reduced costs and shorter durations of hospital stay, compared with traditional care. The study involved 1530 patients assigned to one of the 2 approaches, and an additional retrospective control group. The preliminary results were discussed during the 3rd Zitter Group Annual Congress on Health Outcomes and Accountability [ San Francisco, US; November 1996 ].