Applying economic thinking to an understanding of resource use in patient care is challenging given the
complexities of delivering health care in a hospital. Health-care markets lack the characteristics needed to
determine a “market” price that reflects the economic value of resources used. However, resource allocation
in a hospital can be analyzed by using production theory to determine efficient resource use. The information
provided by hospital epidemiologists is critical to understanding health-care production processes used by
a hospital and developing economic incentives to promote antibiotic effectiveness and infection control.