Demanding healthcare

This paper describes and compares the development of strategies to manage demand in healthcare in the UK and the USA. It suggests that the development is revealing the need to include disciplines other than the traditional ones of economics and public health if its effects are to be understood. Using as an example the growth of telephone help lines and telephone triage, based on computer based decision support systems, it explores the idea of increasing choice and alleviating fear as a way of reducing demand. Organizational behaviour and consumer behaviour can provide wider understanding of these issues, particularly as they relate to the emotional aspects of this activity. Some convergence of the UK and USA approaches and outcomes are identified but demand is revealed as a relatively unexplored territory in the management of health care in both countries.