The case for investor-owned hospitals.

The author presents the case for investor-owned hospitals based on his work experience in both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals. Viewing investor-owned hospitals as a natural development within a capitalistic democracy, he discusses the origins of the moral, ethical, and political arguments used against for-profit hospital care, as well as the increasing necessity for all hospitals to follow the laws of sound economic practice. Finally, having seen good and bad hospitals in every ownership category, the author believes that issues of cost and quality depend not on type of ownership, but on a complex set of variables including goals, management, personnel, and fiscal and physical resources.