Printed in U.S.A. Management of Health Services: Importance of Epidemiology in the Year 2000 and Beyond

In the last half of the 20th century, remarkable growth occurred in the preventive, diagnostic, treat-ment, and rehabilitative technologies shown to be effi-cacious in preventing and treating disease and injury. Management of health care services has become increasingly complex as the scientific basis of health care has grown. Complexity also arises from the mul-tiplicity of decision makers involved in health services (1). Decisions about whether to seek preventive or symptomatic care generally are made by individual persons; the health care provider makes choices about diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitative options; and, ultimately, the patient is expected to accept the provider's recommendations and to adhere to the pre-scribed regimen