Sharing patient care among disciplines: mandates and pitfalls.

Patient-focused care has been used to help cut health care costs. This model changes the way work is done, with a focus on processes rather than individual functions of distinct professions, and it implies shared responsibility for patient outcomes. It also requires that different disciplines share patient care.

Developing a comprehensive breast center.

In 1985 the University of Michigan Medical Center established a multidisciplinary breast care center (BCC) to provide comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for patients with benign and malignant breast disease. Ninety-eight per cent of the first 500 new patients were women and 2 per cent were men. One-hundred thirty-one women (26.