Variables that influence consumers' inferences about physician ability and accountability.

Previous research has shown that the quality of interpersonal care provided by physicians is correlated with the initiation of malpractice litigation. Unfortunately, this research has not controlled for the effects of actual treatment quality or of health outcomes. The research on which this article is based experimentally manipulates three variables: (1) patient involvement with treatment decisions, (2) financial incentives by third party payers to encourage costeffective medicine, and (3) use of new treatment practices that have not been widely adopted by other physicians.