Hospitals are a key component of the health care system and are central to the process of health system reform, but as institutions they have received remarkably little attention from policy-makers and researchers. They have long been regarded as “a black box”’ whose workings are impenetrable.

But this is changing:

policy-makers are demanding information on what hospitals should look like, how they should interact with the wider health care environment, and how they can be changed. Researchers, in turn, are responding to these questions. Those embarking on health care reform should also focus their attention on hospitals.