Cost containment: is hospital‐based dentistry affected?

Cost containment, watchwords of the 80s, has resulted in an alphabet soup of alternatives: HMOs, PPOs, and DRGs. According to the three hospital administrators who participated in this Special Concern, cost containment, and traditional sources of reimbursement for hospital‐based dental care, will require hospital dental administrators to become financial managers as well as clinicians.The administrators believe that hospital dental departments can become and remain financially viable if they rethink the types of services offered, the settings in which these services are provided, and patient mix.Finally, the question of whether different payment systems will affect rationing or quality of care is addressed from three different viewpoints.