Unit 1: Lesson 4: Healthcare Delivery

Lesson 4: Healthcare Delivery

Lesson 4: Healthcare Delivery

When we look at healthcare and showed to people who need it, we find that there aren't healthcare delivery types. Hospitals, doctors' offices, health science laboratories, and other healthcare sites can be public, private, government-sponsored, or nonprofit. The kind of healthcare site may influence how it is reimbursed for its services, the patients it cares for, and other factors related to its operation.

A variety of sources fund public healthcare sites and are open to anyone. They may receive funding from federal, state, and local governments, social insurance programs, and private insurance companies. However, these healthcare sites will also treat individuals without insurance and care for poor patients for free in many cases; for example, anyone can receive care at a public hospital's emergency room regardless of their ability to pay. Public health sites also may be owned by private groups, such as religious organizations, including institutions such as Catholic hospitals. Public hospitals are often used as teaching hospitals, where medical and nursing students receive hands-on experience. Public hospitals have declined in the United States since the mid-1990s, however. Some research suggests this may be due to higher numbers of non-paying patients who lack insurance coverage; however, public hospitals remain an essential resource for rural areas and places where other healthcare options are not as readily available.

Private healthcare sites are those where a for-profit company owns the hospital or office, and the funding comes from patient and insurance payments. The site focuses on making a profit, similar to other for-profit companies in different business sectors. These healthcare sites may require payment from all patients, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status. Private healthcare sites like private hospitals may provide more specialized services than public institutions and have more funding for equipment and staff members. However, services may cost more at private hospitals than they would at public hospitals. This can be especially problematic for people not fully covered by insurance as they must cover those extra costs.

In some cases, the government of a country may offer some healthcare sites. These government healthcare sites may serve populations that cannot afford the cost of other healthcare sites. In some countries, government hospitals may be more common than other types of healthcare sites; in some cases, government healthcare sites may focus on specific populations. In the United States, for example, the government maintains veterans' hospitals, which offer healthcare to current or former military personnel.

Finally, some healthcare sites are nonprofit institutions. This means the healthcare site does not seek to profit above its operating costs. Nonprofit healthcare sites are often associated with charitable organizations, and religious organizations may run some. Nonprofit institutions like government and public healthcare sites can be affected by the amount of funding the site receives, and decreased funding can lead to cuts in the number of staff or the number of services offered at these sites.

For health science professionals, the type of site they work in will influence their experiences. The healthcare setting may influence the types of illnesses seen or the range of people treated. For example, people working in public, government, or nonprofit settings may work with patients with lower incomes or those without insurance. In private healthcare settings, professionals may need to arrange treatment based on what the patient's insurance will cover.