Do eye hospitals have a role in our future?
Eye hospitals, originally founded to care for the poor, have developed into academic centers and tertiary "hospitals of last resort." Inexorable economic pressures, especially price competition, are likely to close many of them, particularly those which are marginal in quality or management. Survival of the remainder may further depend on their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and to fulfill, better than anyone else, the special mission of basic and clinical research and training. Society must be convinced that some of these complex, highly differentiated, relatively expensive eye hospitals are significant national resources, serve the public welfare, and are worth preserving.
D003361:Cost Allocation / Q000639:trends; D004465:Economic Competition / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008404:Massachusetts; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D011445:Prospective Payment System / Q000639:trends; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends