Allied health professional (AHP) research and development (R&D) locality groups were formed as part of a Northern and Yorkshire Regional R&D initiative in 1998 to provide infrastructure support for R&D, however, their sustainability has proved problematic. This paper charts the journey of one locality group and uses the research cycle model to illustrate an attempt to make interdisciplinary research capacity building in practice a reality. Collaborative development of a research proposal proved valuable, despite not gaining funding. An initiative to build research capacity in both qualified AHP staff and pre-registration Masters’ students in the context of research project supervision is being promoted as part of pre-registration Masters programmes at Northumbria University. Locality group members have formed a collaborative learning group to support research-minded practitioners. For those individuals who want to make the move from research consumer to researcher in practice, infrastructure support remains inadequate. Innovative intra- and inter-organizational models need to be explored.

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This article traces the evolution of the consciousness that has occurred relative to consumer protection and quality in health care, discussing the 1997 Advisory Commission Report on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. The end result of the commission deliberations was the Consumer Bill of Rights that addresses explicit consumer rights and cover information disclosure and privacy, choice of providers and plans, access to emergency care, participation in treatment decisions, respect and nondiscrimination, confidentiality of health information, and complaints and appeals. Once the bill was finalized, the Clinton administration began actively working to implement the new patient protections. Congressional activity also accelerated and took the form of managed care patient protections and ultimately managed care reform. The author presents and analyzes a number of the bills that have been introduced in the 106th Congress, and provides a summary of legislative activity relative to managed care reform.

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