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  3. The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the

The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the

admin2010-09-25  66
问题     The health-care economy is filled 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, it is the seller who attempts to attract a potential buyer with various inducements of price, quality, and utility, and it is the buyer who makes the decision. Such condition, however, does not prevail in most of the health-care industry.
    In the health-care 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 who usually makes all significant purchasing 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 disease is regarded as serious.
    This is particularly significant in relation 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 in the main it is the doctor’s judgments that are final. Little wonder then that in the eye of the hospital it is the physician who is the real "consumer". As a consequence, the medical staff represents the "power center" in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration.
    Although usually there are in this situation four identifiable participants -- the physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer (generally an insurance carder or government ) -- the physician makes the essential decision for all of them. The hospital becomes an extension of the physician; the payer generally meets most of the bills generated by the physician/hospital, and for the most part the patient plays a passive role. We estimate that about 75 to 80 percent of healthcare expenditures are determined by physicians, not patients. For this reason, economy directed at patients or the general are relatively ineffective.  
The author’s primary purpose in writing this passage is to ______.
选项 A、inform potential patients of their heath-care rights
B、criticize for exercising too much control over patients
C、urge hospitals to reclaim their decision-making authority
D、analyze some important economic factors in health-care
答案D
解析 作者主要客观地分析了医疗行业中不同寻常的经济关系，指出影响病人医疗消费的往往是医生，而不是病人自己，并分析了这种经济因素产生的原因．由此可知答案为D项。
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