Entrepreneurial Trends in Health Care Delivery: The Development of Retail Dentistry and Freestanding Ambulatory Services

摘要

This report stems from a six-month study of new health care delivery trends appearing since the 1977 Supreme Court decisions in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona which paved the way for professional advertising. The study, undertaken by the Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS) under a contract with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), posed four questions: how did the growth of entrepreneurial medical/dental services vary because of state differences in licensing requirements; how did reimbursement practices of commercial insurers and medical/dental service plans impact on the growth of these entities; how, and to whom were these health care services being marketed; and was there evidence of competitive responses by traditional health care providers. The intent of the study was to provide FTC with a detailed analysis of three new types of health care services--high volume dental offices in retail settings, freestanding emergency/urgent care centers, and freestanding surgery centers--arising in four specified sections of the United States, and to identify various factors impeding their growth for possible investigation by FTC staff.