Should hospitals be run more like fire departments?
“Each neighborhood has its own firehouse,” says #1 Dinosaur, adding that “because the training is generally similar from one company to another, you don’t have huge, expensive advertising campaigns touting the superiority of the Main Street Fire Company over the one on Church Street.”
Calling it “the ultimate in capitation,” he envisions hospitals to be funded like police and fire departments, with an annual budget to cover every medical service.
Not sure the idea will fly however, as suppressing competition will remove any incentive for hospitals to improve and placing your entire fiscal fortune at the whims of government is never a good idea.
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{ 2 comments }
Even with fire departments there are private services. Plus, having designated departments doesn’t remove competition. All it would take is someone to read on the internet that another hospital is better and then drive the extra distance. On top of that, hospitals would take patients outside their area and use excuses like “the patient was injured, we can’t legally turn them away”
I don’t think there could ever be enough hospitals. The more medical services and facilities, the better in my opinion.
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