Creativity and hospital costs: it's all in the approach.

Although most hospitals do consider costs before deciding to fund a new undertaking, many of them fall short of the necessary inventiveness when it comes to developing low-cost alternatives in problem-solving situations. Thus, too often, solutions to problems are found in a climate of crisis that overshadows considerations of cost. If hospitals would take a creative approach to cost containment and regard it as a philosophy or an attitude rather than a program, they might find that they have less trouble in slowing down cost increases to the annual rate of inflation.