A-88 By these measures there has been substantial improvement during this recent period and the health industry private and public is to be commended for it. While a number of smaller provider groups have been decontrolled, several important considerations led the Council to a continuation of controls in the key areas of the health sector as reflected in the recent publication of revised Phase IV regulations. One factor is that the positive impact of the prospective annual budgeting approach taken with hospitals and nursing homes is just beginning to take effect with onethird of the hospitals only completing their first year under Economic Stabilization in June, 1973. The primary reason, however, relates to the fact that the basic nature of the industry - and the methods for financing and reimbursement remain essentially unchanged. The independent inflationary potential remains, if anything, greater than before as the industry faces the prospect of longer term cost controls beginning under expanded national health insurance legislation. Cost of Living Council |