Major impact of HMOs still in future.
HMOs and PPOs will still have a cost-reducing impact on the health care field, but their day for maximum effectiveness will come later in the decade. Until then, hospitals have a few incentives for bringing costs under control. As long as third-party payers, particularly insurers, insist on paying for empty beds, health care will consume a disproportionate part of the Gross National Product.
D004470:Economics, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D007348:Insurance, Health; D011243:Preferred Provider Organizations; D014481:United States