In this authoritative book, the dean of health care analysts discusses the future of American hospitals in the rice of downsizings, mergers, and closings. Eli Ginzberg assesses the different approaches hospitals and their physician staffs have made toward becoming part of an integrated health network, and he explores such trends as the growth of managed-care plans, development of alternative treatment sites for long-term patients, cooperation among community hospitals, and health service management by primary care physicians.

"Ginzberg has codified the conventional wisdom regarding all the problems -- organizational, structural, financial, and managerial -- currently besetting our hospitals. He has provided a concise description, both broad and specific, of the roots of these problems. He also spreads the responsibility among the external environment and the changes occurring there and the hospitals themselves". -- Bernard S. Bloom, Journal of the American Medical Association

"This well-written book provides a general overview of the past (beginning with the post-World War II years) and a forecast of the future of acute care hospitals. Ginzberg manages to compress much information into a slender volume". -- Health Affairs

"For any American interested in understanding the nature of the health care crisis into which we are plunging headlong, this book should be required reading". -- Mitchell T. Rabkin, M.D., president, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston