Health planning and the closure of a community hospital.
The overall purpose of the research reported in this article is two-fold: firstly, to describe the efforts of a regional health planning agency in the United States to reduce the size of acute care facilities in its planning area; and, secondly, to frame these events into a general theory of structural problems of state interventions in the American health care sector. Specifically, a case study is presented that documents--over time--the process of decision making, in seeking to close a community hospital against strong, and vocal, local interests. This analysis supports the view that, in the real world of health planning, power is exercised through a process of bargaining between health care providers and government, and between health care providers. Overall, the study illustrates the constraints upon the American health planning agencies to steer a relatively autonomous health care sector.
D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003657:Decision Making; D006268:Health Facilities; D006271:Health Facility Closure; D006307:Health Systems Agencies; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009511:New England; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012040:Regional Health Planning / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States