Herzlinger and Krasker contended that neither society as a whole
nor individual patients benefit from the subsidies accorded the not-for-profits.
The authors drew the following conclusions from the findings
of their analysis:
- Not-for-profit hospitals are no more accessible to the medically
indigent and uninsured than are for-profits.
-Both types of hospital serve a full range of patients, neither
"skimming the cream" nor providing a disproportionate share
of services to the underinsured.
- Not-for-profit hospitals emphasize short-term operational
results, investing less than do for-profits in capital improvements
to provide for the long-term needs of the communities
they serve.
-Not-for-profits, unlike for-profit hospitals, operate to maximize
physician benefit.
-Not-for-profit hospitals are less efficient than for-profit
hospitals.
-For-profit and not-for-profit hospitals offer equivalent scopes
of service.
-For-profit hospitals are as involved as not-for-profits in
professional education and provide an equivalent, if not
higher, quality of care.
On the basis of these conclusions, Herzlinger and Krasker
asserted that society should rethink its policy of social subsidization and
that not-for-profit health care organizations must do more to provide
for the indigent and to modernize their physical plant and equipment if
they are to retain their privileged status.