Hospitals (and Universities?) as Hotels

I remember Harold Heie once confessing that he used to think perceptions of academic quality were based on the faculty and then one day concluding that these perceptions were much more influenced by the appearance of the buildings and grounds. Seems that a similar mindset affects how people perceive hospitals. If the hospital looks nice, people will come, regardless of whether you live or die while you’re there! And if people are significantly influenced by the “halo effect” when it comes to life and death situations, I can only imagine how great that influence is when it comes to an academic setting. Just something I think about during budget time as I argue for more spending on academic quality. J

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/hospitals-as-hotels/#more-3783