Self-regulation: the true key to success of physician-directed networks.

The purpose of regulation is to promote uniformly high quality health care at a reasonable cost. The purpose of self-regulation is to make regulation more acceptable to the network physicians and create an atmosphere of continual improvement in bedside care. Interviews with medical directors of group practices, independent physician associations, managed care plans, national specialty networks, and physician-hospital organizations were used to learn what methods of self-regulation are popular and effective.