Outcomes Research and Cost Containment

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Abstract
In his Sounding Board article (Oct. 25 issue),1 Wennberg makes the argument that patients' preferences need to be better gauged and incorporated into patient care plans. He has hit on an emerging controversy in clinical medicine.2 We have found that physicians fall into one of two schools of thought. Some believe that the medical issues are too complex to allow patients to participate meaningfully in health care decisions, and others that when there is a trusting and open doctor–patient relationship, the patient and doctor can make important decisions together.3