ABSTRACT
The Federal government has been attempting to control the health care system, to reduce, or at least to reduce the increase, in costs and to improve productivity since Medicare began. Utilization Review, Professional Services Review Organizations (PSRO) called PRO Professional Review Organizations, Certificate of Need, Experimental Health Delivery Systems, and others have all been introduced in an attempt to regulate health costs. The law recognized that there would be considerable resistance from physicians, who do not like regulation especially when it reflects upon their own practice of medicine, and so provided that if voluntary organizations did not develop satisfactory plans, the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services could form PSROs and force compliance. Quality Assurance looks at the kind of care rendered in the hospital. It may investigate drug use, accidents, use of services and tests, and any other process affecting quality.
