The Changing Hospital Industry: Comparing Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Institutions (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

In recent years, the hospital industry has been undergoing massive change and reorganization with technological innovations and the spread of managed care. As a result, the total number of hospitals countrywide has been declining, and a growing number of not-for-profit hospitals have converted to for-profit status. These changes raise two fundamental questions: What determines a hospital's choice of for-profit or not-for-profit organizational form? And how does that form affect patients and society? This timely volume provides a factual basis for discussing for-profit versus not-for-profit ownership of hospitals and gives a first look at the evidence about new and important issues in the hospital industry. The Changing Hospital Industry: Comparing Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Institutions will have significant implications for public-policy reforms in this vital industry and will be of great interest to scholars in the fields of health economics, public finance, hospital organization, and management; and to health services researchers. In recent years, the hospital industry has been undergoing massive change and reorganization with technological innovations and the spread of managed care. As a result, the total number of hospitals countrywide has been declining, and a growing number of not-for-profit hospitals have converted to for-profit status. These changes raise two fundamental questions: What determines a hospital's choice of for-profit or not-for-profit organizational form? And how does that form affect patients and society?This timely volume provides a factual basis for discussing for-profit versus not-for-profit ownership of hospitals and gives a first look at the evidence about new and important issues in the hospital industry. The Changing Hospital Industry: Comparing Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Institutions will have significant implications for public policy reforms in this vital industry and will be of great interest to scholars in the fields of health economics, public finance, hospital organization, and management; and to health services researchers. "What determines a hospital's choice of for-profit or not-for-profit organizational form? And how does that form affect patients and society?" "This volume answers these questions through empirical research, providing a factual basis for discussing for-profit versus not-for-profit ownership of hospitals. Through the use of case studies and other empirical work, this collection provides a first look at the evidence about some new and important issues in the hospital industry." "This collection will have significant implications for public-policy reforms in this vital industry. The Changing Hospital Industry: Comparing Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Institutions will be of great interest to scholars in the fields of health economics, public finance, hospital organization, and management, and to health services researchers."--BOOK JACKET. Conceptually, the appropriate decision as to assignment of ownership rights is that arrangement that minimizes transactions costs between the firm and its various contractors.