title: Mergers, networking, and vertical integration: managed care and investor-owned hospitals.
abstract: This article links the forces of managed care and investor-owned firms as major factors driving the industry toward consolidation into vertically integrated, merged firms, often financed with investor capital. This relentless pressure to build regional systems of health services has transformed the industry from a charitable, community orientation to one of business, market shares, and profits.
authors.affiliation: Strategic Management Services, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D004465:Economic Competition; D006273:Health Facility Merger / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000639:trends*; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary / Q000639:trends; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States