Health Care, Technology, and the Competitive Environment

(Hardback)

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Examining the combined impact of technology and the increasingly competitive market on the delivery and financing of health care, this volume makes a significant contribution to an issue of major importance to the American people. Health care has become a major industry that is changing rapidly and strikingly. This contributor volume focuses on the interplay among technology, the changing environment of health care, and its implications for future technological innovation. Particular focus is placed on the hospital in light of changes in federal funding (Medicare's prospective payment system, using diagnosis-related groups) with its orientation towards cost efficiency and cost-reducing technology. Academics, practitioners, and government personnel involved in hospital management, health care, and policy will find this volume a major resource. This book is a collection of 18 papers by leading authorities inspired by the 1987 Conference on Health Technology Adoption in a DRG Age. It is divided into four sections: Technology and Health Care Content; Technology and the Health Care Organization; Technology and the Changing Environment; Implications for Technology Policy

Reviews

This volume, edited by Brehm (sociology, University of Maryland) and Mullner (director, Center of Health Services Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago), includes papers presented at a 1987 Boston University conference on health technology adoption as well as subsequent commissioned papers. The authors of the 18 papers represent a wide range of academicians and health care practitioners. They focus on the impact of prospective payments and the more competitive environment on the adoption and diffusion of given types of biomedical technology. Diverse topics are covered in styles ranging from empirical to theoretical and from highly academic to highly pragmatic treatments. . . . One of the most attractive features of the volume is the bibliography, which covers most of the recent work on technology assessment. A worthwhile addition to graduate libraries in health administration/policy, medicine, public health, and public policy.-Choice
"This volume, edited by Brehm (sociology, University of Maryland) and Mullner (director, Center of Health Services Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago), includes papers presented at a 1987 Boston University conference on health technology adoption as well as subsequent commissioned papers. The authors of the 18 papers represent a wide range of academicians and health care practitioners. They focus on the impact of prospective payments and the more competitive environment on the adoption and diffusion of given types of biomedical technology. Diverse topics are covered in styles ranging from empirical to theoretical and from highly academic to highly pragmatic treatments. . . . One of the most attractive features of the volume is the bibliography, which covers most of the recent work on technology assessment. A worthwhile addition to graduate libraries in health administration/policy, medicine, public health, and public policy."-Choice

Author Bio

HENRY P. BREHM is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His writings are in the areas of medical care organization and financing, aging, and disability, including coauthorship of a trilogy of books on social insurance policy issues subtitled: From Social Problem to Federal Program. ROSS M. MULLNER is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Health Services Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His extensive writings include such topics as hospital health care technology, capital finance, hospital closure and medical technology.