

Snapshots of Change in Fifteen Communities:
The Role of Public Policy in Health Care Market Change
Summer 1996
Health Affairs, vol.15, no.2 (Summer 1996): 77-91
Aaron Katz, Jack Thompson
arket forces appear dominant in the transformation of health care
systems across the United States. However, in many markets public policy remains an
important factor - guiding, facilitating, and in some cases prompting change. This paper
reviews how the debate over health care reform acted as a catalyst in local health care
financing and delivery systems, and how other public policy tools are affecting the
fifteen markets studied in the Community Snapshots project. We then discuss prospects for
public policy in the near term and the longer term, using the two scenarios to illustrate
possible future roles.
Free access to this article is available at the Health
Affairs Web site.
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