Strategies in health care cost reduction

Both macro and micro approaches have been used to bring the costs of health care down. The technique currently in vogue relies heavily on market forces to accomplish this goal. Maintaining quality in the face of financial pressures is a major issue confronting the health care field. The need to begin a process by which workable criteria for defining quality in health care systems through consensus of constituencies serving and being served by the system--consumer, payer, and provider--is crucial.