By Healthcare Facilities Today

An article in a recent Sunday Review section of The New York Times,  comes with a quiz: "Is this a hospital of a hotel?" 

Author Elisabeth Rosenthal asks the Opinion Page readers if they can identify a series of photos of posh spaces as either a hospital or a hotel.  Her point, that in a highly competitive environment, hospitals are using luxe accommodations as ammunition 

"There are some medical arguments for the trend — private rooms, for example, could lower infection rates and allow patients more rest as they heal. But the main reason for the largess is marketing," according to the article.

Some health economists worry that the luxury surroundings are adding unneeded costs to the nation’s $2.7 trillion health care bill, she writes.

“We found that patient demand correlates much better to amenities than quality of care,” said Dr. John Romley, a research professor at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics of the University of Southern California, who has studied the trend. That means that hospitals can improve their bottom line and their reputation by focusing more on hospitality than health care — offering organic food by a celebrity chef rather than lowering medication errors, for example.

According to the article, however, some worry that hospitals are going too far. Particularly because most hospitals are nonprofit, so construction — directly or indirectly — may  be subsidized with public money.

Read the article and take the quiz.