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 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" should have significant implications for public policy reforms in this vital industry, and should be of interest to scholars in the fields of health economics, public finance, hospital organization and management; and to health servces researchers.
