Federal efforts to influence physician education, specialization distribution projections and options

I have tried to indicate the changes in the spectrum of medical education and practice, and have outlined in some detail the federal government's expanding role in this process.The deepening federal commitment to medical education is not the result of a drive for power or control. It is a response to public pressure as expressed through congressional legislation. Federal involvement represents the growing importance of the consumer in decision-making on matters of health.Growing cooperation between government and society is the pattern of the future in health matters. Changes will result more and more from decisions by all affected parties and less and less from random events and unilateral actions.Only through the participation of all significant interests can we achieve a health care system that will work as well for the medical profession as it does for the general public.