ABSTRACT
Control in the usual business setting suggests the means by which the actual operations of a business are made to conform to the desired objectives. The overall control of health care is usually through a series of regulations promulgated by the state or federal government with often perfunctory examination of how well the performance meets the desired objectives as stated. The theory of control in a social system is in many respects similar to the theory of biological control mechanisms in nature. In the main, the departmental systems are heavily biased toward operational control, which, as in other industries, is the area of the greatest successful implementation of information systems. To ensure effective cost control, one must have output standards by which to measure resource utilization. This means that standards must be developed by each institution as to the amount of resources that should be spent for diagnostic and therapeutic efforts for patients in each diagnostic category.
