Loose Lips

"It's the status quo, only worse. It's managed care with teeth."
—Bob Geist, MD, a retired urologist in St. Paul, MN, referring to proposed legislation that would require physicians to set a single price to treat patients with some chronic conditions—at least for public employees and people on state health programs.

"It feels like you're trying to walk through mud when you get volumes of recommendations."
—Nancy Foster, vice president for quality and patient safety policy at the American Hospital Association, on the federal government's patient safety standards, which lack guidance on which practices are the most important for hospitals to follow.

"We feel just profoundly responsible for this."
—Samuel Carlson, MD, chief medical officer for Park Nicollet Health Services, which owns Methodist Hospital, after a surgical team removed the wrong kidney from a patient with kidney cancer at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, MN.