Impact of technology in health care and health administration: hospitals and alternative care delivery systems.

Applications as outlined above and many more that have not yet even been identified--but that will be invented and developed--will have an enormous impact on the health care industry. Clearly, capital requirements to purchase this technology will go up and thus exert further pressure for the reduction of personnel. Computers and robots will replace a significant percentage of health care personnel; overall health care costs as a percent of gross national product will nevertheless probably continue to rise in spite of improvements in productivity. Added costs will be offset in part by the use of technology in areas that will impact efficiency. Because of these accelerating uses of sophisticated technology, future administrators will have a greater appreciation for what technology can offer. Practical uses of robotics, expert systems, and artificial intelligence will require administrators to be technologically proficient.