Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research

Chapter 1 discusses the objective of the book and presents an outline. It explains the relevance of the subject not only from a social point of view, but also for the economy as a whole. Hospitals worldwide command the majority of any countries’ health care budget. Reasons for these higher costs include the aging of the population requiring more intensive health care treatments, the relatively high costs of labor in this labor-intensive industry and payment systems that may encourage inefficient behavior on the part of hospital managers and physicians. There is also a special role of technology in the hospital. It has been argued that advances in technology are one of the major reasons for hospital cost increases. Further Chapter 1 indicates that from international comparison we may conclude that large differences in hospital productivity exists. Chapter 1 presents an outline of the other chapters in the book, varying from issues dealing with privatizing, liberalizing, ownership, networks, budgeting, management skills, innovations and government facilitating research on productivity enhancement.