these are all good ideas -- anything to reduce costs of operations as well as busy-work load on professionals is bound to have good repercussions.

another idea I've heard of before is something like a semi-patient-run hospital. this could have tremendous benefits in terms of patients advocating for patients, and if conducted properly under the supervision of intelligent, caring, compassionate professionals could be really successful. i can't remember where i heard or read about this though, sorry. it sounded really cool.