Patients as 'regulators'? Patients' evolving influence over health care delivery.

摘要

Are patients regulators? When many people think of regulators, they think of governmental entities issuing long lists of specific rules. Patients certainly do not fit this description. In the health care area, regulators may be defined more broadly, to include entities such as accreditation organizations, peer review committees, and insurers, all of which could be said to engage in an "organized and deliberate leveraging of power or authority to effect changes in the behavior of health care providers." Patients may not fit this broader description either, given the difficulty they would face in attempting to leverage power in an organized and deliberate way.