The increasing roles of Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, and other intermediaries form the third world of medicine, which is both the subject and the title of Robert Cunningham's new book. As this third world has emerged and developed, the first world of medicine (the physicians and hospitals) and the second (the patients and the general public) have had to adjust. This book is a compilation of speeches, articles, essays, and editorials which Mr. Cunningham has written over the past few years as commentaries on the adjustment process.
Mr. Cunningham is currently the editor of Modern Hospital and Modern Nursing Home and was formerly associate editor of the American Medical Association's publication Hygeia, now called Today's Health. These credentials amply qualify him as an analyst and a commentator on the three worlds of medicine and their relationships. He has been counted, at times, among the ranks of AMA critics, and by