Changing capital needs means changing capital solutions. Roundtable on capital financing

For a full day, seven individuals representing varied backgrounds and viewpoints within the healthcare industry discussed the issues confronting capital financing for healthcare institutions--capital requirements and investment, tax reform, capital costs under PPS, and alternative methods of financing. This discussion, sponsored by the Healthcare Financial Management Association and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc., provided a public forum for discussion of upcoming capital financing issues and concerns. The article presented here, taken from that discussion, focuses on the upcoming capital needs of the industry. A "redeployment" of capital in the healthcare industry is going to occur because the industry is moving away from the acute care setting into long-term and ambulatory care. The mainstay of the healthcare industry--acute care--will be broken down into different components, requiring a significant redeployment of capital.