The challenges concerning hospital performance in recent years have been the motivation to improve the quality of the health-care services they provide, to improve the efficiency of their operation, to reduce their costs, and to better cover the social needs of health-care services. There are different types of hospital ownership which all coexist in a competitive environment with different characteristics across countries and regions. In this chapter we deal with the organizational forms of hospitals, what the theory says about each type of hospital, and the role the government could play when different types of hospitals coexist. In particular, this chapter:
Analyzes hospital ownership in depth
Presents and analyzes the theory of for-profit, non-profit, and public hospital types
Examines the role of government toward different types of hospitals