What types of hospitals, doctors, nurses, long-term care, mental health, and other caregivers are available in the United States? How are they organized? Are they in the right places? Is the supply of caregivers appropriate? To what extent does the shape of care delivery address the needs of patients and of caregivers themselves? How did these patterns of care delivery evolve over time, and what market, regulatory, political, and other forces shape the delivery of care today? What are the main strengths and weaknesses of health care delivery in the United States? What problems in care delivery and organization have been identified and what are their causes? What remedies have been proposed, and how well have they worked so far? What are the possible roles of physicians, patients, managers, businesspeople, and regulators in improving the overall supply and types of caregivers, their locations, and how they are organized? In what way could coordination among physicians, hospital, long-term care, mental health services, and other types of care be improved? In what ways is care delivery influenced by methods of payment, and by efforts to improve coverage, control cost, and raise the appropriateness and quality of care? And reciprocally, in what ways does the shape of care delivery influence payment methods and efforts to improve health care?

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