Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

136 • R EADING

Š‹• •‡…–‹‘…‘–ƒ‹• –™‘ ‡ƒ†‹‰ “—‹œœ‡•Ǥ Š‡ ϐ‹”•– “—‹œ ‹• ƒ †‹”‡…–‡† •–—†› “—‹œǤ Š‡ †‹”‡…–‡† study quiz is not timed. Answer each question and check your work as you go. The second quiz is a timed quiz. Take the second quiz under the indicated timed conditions to practice your pacing ƒ• ›‘— ƒ’’Ž› ™Šƒ– ›‘— Ž‡ƒ”‡† ‹ –Š‡ ‡ƒ†‹‰ ‡••‘•Ǥ

DIRECTED STUDY QUIZ (18 items; 15 minutes)

DIRECTIONS: Each passage below is followed by a set of items. Read the passage and choose the best answer for each item. You may refer to the passage as often as necessary to answer the items.

Passage I

SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage discusses the economic structure of current healthcare policy. The healthcare economy is replete with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the peculiar roles of producer or “provider” and purchaser or “consumer” in the typical doctor-patient relationship. In most sectors of the economy, the seller attempts to attract a potential buyer with various incentives of price, quality, and utility, and the buyer makes the decision. When the buyer has no choice because there is effectively only one seller and the product is essential, the government usually asserts a monopoly and places the industry under price and other regulations. Neither of these conditions prevails in most of the healthcare industry. In the healthcare industry, the doctor- patient relationship is the mirror image of the ordinary relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician—and even then there may be no real choice—it is the physician ™Š‘ —•—ƒŽŽ› ƒ‡• ƒŽŽ •‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ– ’—”…Šƒ•‹‰

decisions: whether the patient should return “next Wednesday,” whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is a rare and sophisticated patient who will challenge such professional decisions or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the ailment is regarded as serious. Š‹• ‹• ’ƒ”–‹…—Žƒ”Ž› •‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ– ‹ ”‡Žƒ–‹‘ to hospital care. The physician must certify the need for hospitalization, determine what procedures will be performed, and announce when the patient may be discharged. The patient may be consulted about some of these decisions, but ultimately it is the doctor’s Œ—†‰‡–• –Šƒ– ƒ”‡ ϐ‹ƒŽǤ ‹––Ž‡ ™‘†‡”ǡ –Š‡ǡ that in the eyes of the hospital, the physician is the real “consumer.” Consequently, the medical staff represents the “power center” in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration. Although usually there are in this •‹–—ƒ–‹‘ ˆ‘—” ‹†‡–‹ϐ‹ƒ„Ž‡ ’ƒ”–‹…‹’ƒ–•Ȅ–Š‡ physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer (generally an insurance carrier or government)—the physician makes the key decisions for all of them. The hospital

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