"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

The Conservation of Human Resources, Columbia University, of which I am the director, has been carrying out over the past three years an inquiry into selected forces that are altering the structure and functioning of the U.S. health care system. The funding for the project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the principal investigator was Howard Berliner, an Associate Research Scholar on the Conservation staff.