Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:959-965
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Accountability, public policy, and psychiatry
AR Somers
The author identifies the direction of changes in health policy in the
United States that need to be taken into account by the health professions
in their dealings with government. She discusses three areas in which these
changes will call for adjustment on the part of the medical profession and
major health care institutions and defines the special challenge to
psychiatry implicit in the changes. She concludes that the public's need
for attention to the psychosocial aspects of health and the renewed
interest in prevention present psychiatry with an opportunity to provide
leadership in health care delivery.
