In reply: Prospective rate setting--boon or boondoggle?

In excerpts from an article on prospective rate setting, published in Radiology Management (March, 1982) Dr. William L. Dowling creates the impression that a government approach using prospective rate setting could go a long way towards solving the problems associated with health care delivery. In view of other government attempts, I'm left with the feeling that there are more negatives associated with the approach than positives. It would be foolish not to examine prospective rate setting as a possibly useful tool, but it would be even more foolish to rush headlong into its use without careful and intense scrutiny.