Increased competition and the quality of health care

Available information does not indicate either that quality has deteriorate d as price competition has increased or that quality has improved. To rewar d plans for providing what consumers want, public and private policies have crucial roles in the following areas: mandating minimal requirements for p lans; funding research to improve knowledge and methods related to quality- of-care assessment; publication of quality-of-care information; selective c ontracting and regionalizing of services; and payment for physician service s. Learning what degree of trade-off between cost versus quality and other benefits is acceptable to consumers will be an iterative process that infor ms future policies to safeguard the quality of care.