Data error in study of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from ages 9 to 15 years.

“grounded in the philosophy of caveat emptor.” We believe that inappropriate self-referral and the overuse of generously reimbursed procedures are primarily caused by informational asymmetries and a poorly designed compensation system, not commercialism per se. Improvement in patients’ incentive and capacity to shop for cost-effective medical services would discourage unscrupulous behavior and lead patients toward ethical clinicians who offer superior value by embracing their fiduciary duty to patients. There are practical concerns associated with any health care reform effort, including those that are marketdriven. Currently, it is difficult to amass and disseminate meaningful outcome data. In the absence of risk-adjusted deductibles and risk-adjusted disbursements into health savings accounts by third parties, high-deductible health plans may be disproportionately attractive to healthy persons. But the authors provided no proof that increased competition for health care services will destroy professional ethics. The current health care marketplace, replete with inequitable fee-for-service reimbursement and virtually no risk-adjusted outcome data, brings out the worst in clinicians. Any improvement in consumers’ ability to shop for medical care can only improve this situation.