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Administrative History

On May 25, 1964, Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed seven prominent citizens as a Committee on Hospital Costs. The Committee was charged with studying hospital costs and the alignment of state responsibilities regarding hospitals in order to develop recommendations for improving the quality of hospital care while moderating hospital costs and their impact.

During the course of its investigation, the Committee met with hospital administrators, hospital physicians, labor and management purchasers of hospital benefits, insurance company officials, hospital efficiency management consultants, hospital financial officers, hospital association officials, and regional and state hospital review and planning councils. The Committee also solicited information and suggestions from over 200 national and state agencies involved in hospital care and its financing; reviewed existing reports, studies, and data; and conducted some original studies for new data on hospital care costs, components, and trends.

In its 1965 report to the Governor, the Committee made a number of recommendations, including: full use of hospitals on weekends; pre-admission testing; increased patient self-care and ambulatory care; effective drug formularies and generic prescription programs; cooperative purchasing and service programs among hospitals; close hospital-physician relationships in the community; and enactment of a state hospital insurance law to establish minimum standards of coverage for hospitalization and related services.