ABSTRACT
In considering the future role of voluntary hospitals in responding to New York City's Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, it is necessary to begin with a quick review of their role to date. The announcement by the State Commissioner of Health authorizing the recertification, on a temporary basis, of up to 500 medical-surgical beds for care of persons with AIDS in New York City embodies both the dilemmas facing public policymakers and the confusing and often contradictory signals being received by individual institutions. This chapter discusses a number of classic public goods, which no individual providers of services can, or should be expected to, provide by themselves, but whose creation would benefit all providers as well as the community at large. The other major fear experienced by those running the city's voluntary hospitals is that the continuing AIDS epidemic will exacerbate an already critical manpower shortage.
