Questions remain, however, about whether they will freely admit uninsured patients, and whether their need to demonstrate profits for their stockholders can be reconciled with their responsibility to provide top-quality medical care and at the teaching hospitals, medical education. The hospital's board of trustees represents the public's interest and bears legal and moral responsibility for all activities that occur within the institution. The trustees set hospital policy and see to the provision and safeguarding of hospital assets. The administrator, the chief of the medical staff, and the chiefs of the various medical services are directly responsible to the trustees who also approve the medical-staff bylaws, the rules that govern the behavior of staff physicians. The medical staff is usually subdivided into inpatient departments such as medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics, and psychiatry.
Teaching hospitals maintain a paid staff of physicians, residents, and interns.
Otherwise, physicians are not usually hired by a hospital, but instead are granted the privilege of practicing there once their professional qualifications are approved. Hospital administration is concerned with such matters as finances, plant management, and labor policies. Attempts to Reduce Health-Care Costs Hospitals are responding to increasing cost pressures in a number of ways. They have attempted to introduce more-efficient management methods and have joined forces with other hospitals to benefit from joint purchasing and interchange of staff. Proprietary hospitals, in particular, have found greater profits in chain operations.