1 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York 10461
Hoekelman's study on well-baby care1 is an example of a much-needed investigation to distinguish between ritualistic and functional components of infant care. Some of the data provided, however, raise questions about the validity of his statements that "the use of abbreviated visit schedules does not reduce the adequacy of care as measured by the endpoints used in this study" and "savings could be made." The data I refer to are those pertaining to the mean number of well-baby, immunization only, and illness visits in Table XIV.