This book, a valuable reference work for students of hospital planning, covers hospital programs, personnel, facilities, organization, and finances in New York City. It compares the operation of the voluntary and municipal hospital systems, and presents alternative proposals for bringing about a greater degree of cooperation between the two as well as cooperation among the various hospitals in each system.
One of the problems discussed is the duplication of expensive hospital facilities that are in limited demand, such as cobalt bombs for cancer therapy. While regional hospital planning would intend that certain programs of care be located in some hospitals and be excluded from others, the book recognizes that difficulties will be involved. The staff of a hospital giving up a program would stand to lose income from the care of private patients. The book suggests that "selective granting of duplicate staff appointments to certain physicians, namely, those with special