ABSTRACT
Despite the vast increase in health expenditures and considerable advances in health care technology during the past decade, there has not been a corresponding increase in many of the nation's health statistics. Although it may be evident that the quality of health care has been remarkably improved in the past two decades, it is general knowledge that the nation continues to experience high infant mortality rates and unacceptably high rates of preventable illnesses, for example, certain cancers, tuberculosis, early childhood diseases, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases (Greenburg and Schneider, 1995).
