ABSTRACT
Art and politics are both cultural productions. Aesthetics is a form of cognition, as well as a cultural precondition. Yet an emphasis on aesthetic values and on the patient’s experience does not lower standards – even if they are hard to measure in the absence of the customer going somewhere else with their money. Research on the satisfied patient suggested that patients’ overall evaluation of quality depends on the results of the processes, as an experience, at every point of contact. Quality measurement from this perspective requires mapping and surveying the patient’s entire experience with the delivery system. The author's proposed patient guaranteed care organisations would provide the necessary re-balancing of power, both between the individual and competing purchasers and between purchasers and competing providers. This would influence production decisions, do much to determine patterns of demand, and by direct incentives encourage different lines of conduct and attitudes from providers.
