Cost containment through medical education.

Efforts for containing the costs of health care are currently being directed primarily toward the organization and administration of health care services, and there is increasing legislation pertaining to the financing and reimbursement for medical care. An important area that to date has received insufficient attention as an approach to cost containment is the process of medical education and the training of young physicians. A curriculum on the economic dimensions of medical practice is proposed, and principles for instituting the curriculum are detailed.

The challenge of health economics to medical education.

A restructuring of medical education and medical practice to include the dimensions of cost awareness is being urged by medical educators and the concerned medical profession. Educational programs alerting and sensitizing medical students and young physicians to the fiscal and economic consequences of medical practice are advocated with growing urgency. The framework, principles, and content of a long-term educational program covering the preclinical and clinical years are delineated.

The planning and organization of a regionalized burn care system.

The burn problem in the United States, as reflected in published data, is serious. More than 2,000,000 people are injured in burn accidents each year; 70,000 are hospitalized, involving approximately 9,000,000 disability days; and an estimated 9,000 die from their injuries. In 1964, the National Burn Information Exchange (NBIE) was established in Michigan.