Selected reflections on quality of medical care evaluation in the 1980s

Quality assessment of medical care in the 1980s will face several challenges. Most important is the current move toward cost containment. Issues such as making cost-benefit tradeoffs and defining the focus of medical care will be difficult to resolve. With the help of patients and nonhealth professionals, decisions and tradeoffs can be made and a viable equilibrium between cost containment and quality of health care may be achieved.