The Medical–Industrial Complex: Our National Defense

Abstract

Part of the current debate on health-care delivery involves whether or not the investor-owned health-care industry is providing a needed service to the American people. The questions most frequently raised relate to studies about such issues as the relative efficiency of investor-owned hospitals, the types of patients they serve and the scope of services they offer, and what benefit they provide to our communities.A recent study¹ purporting to show that the tax-exempt hospitals were more efficient than the investor-owned hospitals in California was based on data concerning revenue per patient. Revenue cannot be a proxy for efficiency. Inasmuch as . . .