Osteopathic medical education: the introduction of managed care principles into our undergraduate curriculum.

The authors review the strengths of traditional osteopathic medical education, identify the principles that managed care organizations have identified as being essential in preparing physicians to succeed in the current medical marketplace, and discuss the advantages of incorporating the best principles of managed care into osteopathic medical education. They present a strategy and outline proposed by the Department of Family Medicine at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific for the integration of these principles into the undergraduate educational process.