To the Editor.—In the December 1971 issue of the Journal in the Symposium on Comprehensive Care, there was an article by Oleinick discussing the Kaiser Health Plan (Amer J Dis Child 122:478-480, 1971). Oleinick made the statement:
The foregoing data suggest that pediatricians within a comprehensive prepaid health care system have about the same amount of patient contact as those in more traditional forms of practice (with the exception of the solo pediatric practitioner), tend to hospitalize somewhat less frequently, and keep children in the hospital for shorter periods.
Although the author makes his generalization about three areas, he is actually comparing pediatricians only in the patient contact area. In the hospitalization and hospital day areas he compares the group pediatricians to physicians in general. Furthermore, he generalizes his statement about hospitalization frequency from a questionable specific—adenotonsillectomy rates from 1965, in Kansas.
Since the future form of American health