Abstract:
In the first half of this century, most regulations affecting hospitals were designed to promote quality assurance through accreditation and licensure of facilities and personnel. Then health planning, initially on a voluntary basis and subsequently made compulsory, arose from a dual concern for improv- ing access to health services and for correcting alleged malfunctions in the health care marketplace. During the past decade, the growth of hospital expenditures has led to more targeted efforts to regulate specific sources of cost increases. At present, hospitals in the United States must cope with a wide variety, and still growing number, of controls developed by federal, state, and local governmental agencies and by some private organizations, including Blue Cross.
