The year 2007 looks to end the same way it began for the hospital industry, focusing on a handful of continuing themes: explaining quality measures to consumers and why there seems to be so little progress; deciphering the federal government’s shifting policies on specialty hospitals and competition; and seeking clarity on the definitionof charity care. These issues have played out against the backdrop of a growing number of Americans who are uninsured—47 million—and an even greater number who have gone without insurance for some time in the last two years—86 million or one in three Americans.
