The House bill would require consultants to meet new criteria for "independence," leaving the standards to be determined later by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The hospital said it provides an alternative for women who do not want home births and do not require consultant-led care.
While the comptroller's office will continue requiring consultants in certain cases, some agency officials are worried about the quality of the work, as well as the consultants' independence, according to three government officials briefed on the matter.
This is a complex process that previously required consultants to come in and charge large fees to devise these plans, which smaller companies often can't afford.
On the other hand, this requires consultants to have a wider area of expertise.
All manufacturers, wherever located, will require management consultants, accountants, advertisers, investment capital and the like.
This will require more consultants and diagnostic services as well as junior doctors to be available at weekends.
The demands of big businesses require the consultants to focus less on establishing an immediate Web presence and more on developing a longer-term technology strategy, Mr. Lochhead of Scient said.
That would require hospital consultants to visit patients in their GP surgery and the sickest patients being given much more time to discuss their health than the usual 10-minute appointment with a family doctor.
Merrill Lynch's policy is to require financial consultants, even trainees, to agree that their customer accounts are company property.
