Whose Patient Am I, Anyway? How New Economic Threats to Continuity of Care Can Undermine the Doctor / Patient Relationship

Abstract

New structures for the financing and delivery of health care and serious efforts to control costs all create tensions in the relationship between doctors and patients and heighten the need for clarification of that relationship. We all want to maintain the traditional sense of a personal, caring, trusting relationship between doctor and patient. However, economic incursions into that relationship threaten to make it a thing of the past. This paper explores these issues.