Models of Physician Practice is a scholarly collection on an important part of the health care delivery system, physician group practices. Because group practice is the basis of HMO organizations, the notion of pre-paid group practice plans is usually negatively associated with the managed care industry. This book aims to set the record straight, and demonstrate through new, cutting edge research that pre-paid group practices are a cost-efficient, high quality alternative to the commercial HMO. This collection represents a blue ribbon panel of the best known health care policy scholars from top institutions, including University of California/Berkeley School of Public Health, University of California/San Francisco, Bloomberg/Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, University of North Carolina/Chapel Health School of Public Health, Harvard University, and Stanford University. Many of the contributors are the experts in their areas, such as Stephen Shortell (integrated delivery systems), Hal Luft and Adams Dudley (quality of care in HMOs), Donald Berwick (working with physicians), James Robinson (financing of physician practices), and Alain Enthoven (health market dynamics). Contributing authors have researched and analyze pre-paid practices from the perspective of quality of care, responsiveness to patients, technology assessment, employer purchasing of benefits, market dynamics, and physician group leadership.