Abstract:
Hospital investment decisions depend on several factors that are not relevant to the typical for- profit firm. First, most hospitals are not-for-profit organizations. Roughly 60% are privately owned not-for-profits (NFPs); about 25% are operated by public agencies (American Hospital Associa- tion 1984). The remaining hospitals are run on a for-profit (FP) basis. NFPs have no clearly defined objectives, and there is no consensus about their objective function...
