on that was drawn from these two prominent findings is that any consensus on the actions that should be implemented to bring about a substantial reduction in the level of litigation is unlikely because profit-making health insurance companies and managed care organizations are unlikely to agree to any compromise that would impinge on continually increasing profit levels.
1 - INTRODUCTION .................................... 1
Introductory Statement .......................... 1
Statement of the Problem ........................ 1
Research Questions .............................. 2
Background on the Problem ....................... 4
Significance of the Study ....................... 20
Overview of the Study ........................... 20
2 û REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................ 21
Introduction .................................... 21
Managed Care .................................... 21
Clinical Ethics ................................. 30
Medical Practice Guidelines ..................... 32
What Guidelines Are .......................... 32
Why Guidelines Are Developed ................. 35
How Guidelines Are Developed ................. 37
Legal Implications of Guidelines ................ 43
Responsibilities of the Patient ................. 53
Conclusions of the Literature Review ............ 57
3 û METHODOLOGY ..................................... 59
Introduction .................................... 59
Research Design ................................. 59
Research Questions and Hypotheses ............... 60
Variables and Operational Definitions ........... 63
Population and Sample ........................... 65
Data Collection ................................. 66
Data Analysis ................................... 68
Methodological Limitations ........................