Analyzing Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Hospitals

High health care costs in the United States (11.7% of GNP in 1988) and the effect of these costs on governmental budgets and private industry has stimulated cost consciousness among the purchasers of hospital care. Cost-containment efforts recently enacted by third-party payers (Medicare, some state Medicaid programs, and private payers) as well as increased competition in the hospital market have pressured hospital management to seek more efficient means of providing services.