The Health Security Act and academic medicine

The mission of academic medicine is the production and dissemination of new and useful medical knowledge, and the education and training of practitioners. The authors' position is that the Clinton reform proposal is likely to interfere with the mission of academic medicine in ways that may lead to higher cost and lower quality of health care. It is the authors' opinion that the pressing moral problem of the uninsured and the undertreated can be solved without sacrificing the diversity, creativity, and excellence of American medicine. The most significant improvements in quality of care and reductions in costs of health care delivery arise from scientific discoveries and innovations in practice, and not from direct government control of prices or attempted regulation of quality.