| Article ID: | iaor19971437 |
| Country: | Netherlands |
| Volume: | 67 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Start Page Number: | 1 |
| End Page Number: | 21 |
| Publication Date: | Sep 1996 |
| Journal: | Annals of Operations Research |
| Authors: | Rosko Michael D. |
| Keywords: | economics, financial |
This article provides a review of factors that cause hospital costs to vary. Examples of public policy issues and strategic management issues related to hospital cost variations are presented. Two commonly used theoretical perspectives for studying costs, micro-economic theory and industrial organization theory, are briefly reviewed. The article concludes with suggestions for future research including the application of a different theoretical perspective, X-efficiency Theory.