ABSTRACT
Hospitals play an important role in the provision of health care for the aged. No other community institution, perhaps with the exception of the fire or police department, serves more older people (Brody and Persily 1984). In 1986, 20 percent of persons 65 years and older used hospital inpatient facilities at least once during the year, accounting for 10.8 million admissions (Mullner, Read, and Kralovec 1987). With the rapid growth of the aging population and recent changes in the financing of health care, hospitals are likely to continue to care for the aged, but it is proposed that they must also transform themselves to provide an array of health and related services for the aging patients (Brody and Persily 1984; Davis 1986; Eisdorfer and Kessler, in press; Hospital Research and Educational Trust 1986; Kellogg Foundation 1987).
