The Quality of Medical Care

in a

National Health Program

A Statement by

The Subcommittee on Medical Care

American Public Health Association

1949

[Posted on DentPubHealthListServe May 23, 2011]

This 26 page pamphlet, originally published in the American Journal of Public Health (Volume 39, July 1949), should be required reading for: all medical, dental, and public health students; all practicing physicians, dentists and other health care providers; all state and national legislators; not least for the president of the United States; and, in fact, for everyone.

Make no mistake, this document is as relevant and appropriate as any contemporary discussion of the health care mess in the United States. It is, essentially, a complete primer on the organization and financing of health care as it should ― and some day in the future will ― be:

·         Components of good quality;

·         Quantitative and qualitative adequacy;

·         Selection and education of health care providers;

·         Regionalization and integration of health care services;

·         Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention;

·         Group practice and comprehensiveness of care;

·         Financing of health care;

·         Social insurance supplemented by taxation, or by general taxation alone;

·         Methods of payment to providers, hospitals, etc., excluding fee-for-service;

·         Assuring equity through oversight, supervision, cost-accounting and maintaining standards;

·          Preserving free choice and rights of patients and providers;

·          And much more.

* Request a PDF copy from: drjfriedman@sbcglobal.net

       Also accessible at: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/contents-by-date.0.dtl

Citation: Subcommittee on Medical Care, American Public Health Association. The quality of medical care in a national health program. Am J Pub Health, 1949. 39(7);898-924. (Copyright APHA)