Survey shows hospitals are keeping costs down

For the third year in a row, the American Hospital Association's annual survey of more than 5,000 hospitals found little or no growth in hospital costs. The average length of stay for patients continued to drop, declining to an all-time low of 6.1 days. About 23% of hospitals were involved in developing an HMO insurance product independently or through a joint venture in 1997, up from 19% of hospitals in 1994.