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Article: Hospitals being accused of `wasteful' spending
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- February 4, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON In recent years, 600,000 of the nation's 900,000-plus
hospital beds have been filled each day, an occupancy rate so low
that the average hospital has made no money on the care of patients
since 1986.
At the same time, the industry has been laying out $16.5 billion
a year in capital and interest for buildings and major equipment such
as magnetic resonance imaging machines.
The capital expenditures are a major reason why health care
costs are rising faster than virtually any other item in the economy,
many critics contend.
That conviction has spurred proposals to change laws that
encourage hospital capital investments.
The administrator of Medicare, Gail Wilensky, said new ...