title: A measure of the effects of competition in the U.S. health care sector during the 1980s.
abstract: For some years now, health planning and management efforts have been assigning greater importance to the values and preferences of patients as consumers of health care services. A key objective of this 'marketing orientation' has been to effect responsible change in the way health services are designed, priced, advertised, and delivered. Implementation of such a philosophy--inconceivable just a few years ago--was originally motivated by the emergence of competitive market forces in the hospital and health care sector. In the current paper, a perspective on the precursors and facilitating factors that gave rise to these forces is presented. With this perspective, the review of two relevant books, one published at the beginning of the 1980s and one towards the end of the decade, will serve as a measure of the large and increasing impact of competition in the U.S. health care sector during the 1980s.
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D004465:Economic Competition; D004467:Economics; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D014481:United States