The effects of regulatory tools on organizational populations

One of the main activities of regulation is the control of market development by influencing the number of firms in an industry, their entry into an industry, and their exit from an industry. Population ecology is used as a framework for explaining both the direct and indirect effects of regulatory activity on entry, exit, and market structure. This framework is then used to derive specific propositions about regulatory effects on entry, exit, and market structure in the health maintenance organization industry.     

From QA to TQM

In the decade from 1950 to 1960, two quality-related processes--medical audit and total quality management--were being developed, one directly in the health care field and the other in the manufacturing sector. These processes remained isolated from each other until the mid-1980s. Each would have a separate but major effect on the health care industry.     

Supreme Court expands view of interstate commerce in peer review proceeding

At the end of May, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed an antitrust claim by a physician against a hospital for an allegedly improper peer review proceeding. Previously, hospitals were allowed to defend against antitrust claims regarding a peer review decision involving one physician on the grounds that the activities did not affect interstate commerce. The Supreme Court has apparently removed this defense by letting stand a Court of Appeals decision allowing a physician's antitrust claim against a hospital that has suspended his privileges.     

From quality assurance to continuous quality improvement

To change from punitive and legalistic QA to positive and productive CQI, both attitudes and methods must change. This is a difficult challenge, but potential rewards for both the organization and its individual members suggest that the effort is worthwhile and deserves high priority. Members of the executive/management team will likely turn to physician executives for guidance on how to proceed.     

Survey provides overview of profession's responsibilities

At the end of 1990, the Physician Executive Management Center, Tampa, Fla., undertook a survey of College members to determine levels of compensation and benefits and to provide a glimpse at the roles and responsibilities of physician executives. The results of the survey have recently been published by the Management Center. In this article, the roles and responsibilities of physician executives for the overall sample are summarized.     

Common sense leadership

Common sense has to do with problem solving. In the complexities of everyday human life, we are faced time and again with the need to solve problems. In fact, every situation we face, at least at the first exposure, requires some form of problem solving. When we want food, we have to solve a series of problems from acquisition to preparation to serving and eating. When we deal with organizational needs, problem solving is the daily fare.     

Regulation of board-and-care homes: research to guide policy

Information about board-and-care homes reported in the media and in federal committee hearings indicates that they are shoddy and exploitative environments that do not provide adequate care. Research done in board-and-care homes in recent years, however, demonstrates that they can provide adequate care and a satisfying environment for some of the people they serve. Policy at the federal, state, and local levels should be guided by both the need to assure the health and safety of board-and-care residents and the needs of residents and operators identified in scientific studies.     

The impact of the Gulf war on migration and remittances in Asia and the Middle East

The author discusses the impact of the 1990 Gulf war on the migrant worker populations in the region, with a focus on migration and remittances in Asia and the Middle East. Both immediate and long-term effects are considered. "From the perspective of foreign migrant communities living in the Gulf...the war...was much more of a disaster for Arabs than for Asians....Arab migrant populations...were dramatically affected by the Gulf crisis. In contrast, the Asian migrant community was largely concentrated in Saudi Arabia and the [United Arab Emirates] and remained relatively less affected by the crisis. Subsequent polarization in the Arab world gives Asian labor-exporting countries an unexpected opportunity to increase their share of Gulf labor markets still further in the coming years." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)