Private Initiative in Professional Standards Review Organizations (PIPSRO), a privately funded project sponsored by four major health care associations, has developed principles to guide the formulation of the respective responsibilities of HEW and the private sector in regulating quality assurance. The management committee of PIPSRO studied alternatives to the federal government's approach to regulation and concluded from the results that the special function of PSROs in regulating quality assurance should be to ensure that a basic standard of care is maintained for all Medicare and Medicaid patients.