Catholic health care: future blueprint

Every Catholic hospital is influenced by one of two models of behavior, the private-business model and the public-service model. Which model eventually dominates an organization's actions is determined by the behavior of its leaders--sponsors, trustees, executive managers, and physicians. Since these internal forces are more likely than are external forces to determine an organization's course, Catholic health care leaders must consciously decide which value they wish to embrace. They also must improve their ability to forecast and influence the future, beginning with the creation of an independent national commission formed to assess the status of Catholic health care. Religious institutes, seeking collaboration and dialogue among themselves, should play a key role in implementing such a commission's recommendations. The Catholic health care systems that emerge in the future as a result of long-range planning and a value-driven philosophy will be multicongregational rather than owned by a single religious institute, fewer in number and larger in scope, and influential on a regional level. They will be expected to participate in networking with local non-Catholic providers and to integrate finance and delivery.