VOLUNTARY PURCHASING POOLS - A MARKET MODEL FOR IMPROVING ACCESS, QUALITY, AND COST IN HEALTH-CARE

States and small businesses have been rapidly establishing voluntary h ealth care purchasing pools during the past few yea rs. Purchasing poo ls can decrease health care costs, improve access for some small busin esses and individual persons, allow greater choice among health care p lans, and provide continuity of care. Purchasing pools also help to ev en the balance of power in the health care marketplace, which has come increasingly under the control of huge proprietary managed care corpo rations. This position paper of the American College of Physicians dis cusses how a system of well-designed voluntary purchasing pools can he lp protect the integrity of health care in the emerging managed care m arketplace.