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Economic Forces and Hospital Technology

Lessons from the United States Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

John H. Goddeeris
Affiliation:
Michigan State University

Abstract

This paper considers economic forces on the organization and use of technology in hospitals from a U.S. perspective. U.S. hospitals are moving from a period of very loose financial constraints to one in which the demand side of the market is likely to exert much greater discipline. Theory and limited evidence suggest some important effects on the adoption and use of technology, leading in general to more emphasis on cost reduction and less emphasis on costly quality improvements. Also discussed are economic influences on the movement of technology out of the hospital and on the development of new technologies. Finally, some peculiarities of very high cost technologies are noted.

Type
Special Section: The Organization and Use of Technology in the Hospital Part I: Social, Economic, and Political Issues
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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