Assignment 3
ASSIGNMENT 3: HOSPITALS AND LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES
Hospitals and Long-Term Care Facilities
By Annette Dixon
Professor Dr. Jo-Rene Queensberry
HSA500 Section: 006VA016-1124-001
May 13, 2012
Describe the difference between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals. The hospital has originated, over the years, as an institution for the poor, offering little in the way of therapy. Today it has evolved with primary focus on health care. To understand hospital growth one must first distinguish between the two: nonprofit or for-profit hospitals. In the past, nonprofit hospitals were developed for charity and usually through religious orders. However, with a dramatic rise in health care costs since the 1980s, hospitals have increasingly converted to for-profit enterprise. During the 1980s, the increased health care costs were due to inflation, and new technologies threatened the survival of nonprofit hospitals. Their soul mission was providing health care without regard to a patient 's ability to pay. Employers and government bear most of the expense for health care in the U.S. and have pressured medical providers to decrease costs. Nonprofit hospitals accept everyone. They do not refuse treatment and offer many community-based health programs. For-profit hospitals represent a corporate model of health care, which seeks profit first. For-profit hospitals enjoy higher capital, which in return allows them to purchase the latest medical technologies and create state-of-the-art facilities (Lister). For-profit health care providers claim they are able to provide better care at lower cost due to their focus on efficiency. For-profit hospitals ' focus on efficiency has raised questions of whether cost-cutting impacts consumer health. Both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals provide similar services, each faces demands to cut health care costs. For-profit hospitals have a duty to investors in paying dividends and taking the company in an approved direction.
Hospitals and Long-Term Care Facilities
By Annette Dixon
Professor Dr. Jo-Rene Queensberry
HSA500 Section: 006VA016-1124-001
May 13, 2012
Describe the difference between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals. The hospital has originated, over the years, as an institution for the poor, offering little in the way of therapy. Today it has evolved with primary focus on health care. To understand hospital growth one must first distinguish between the two: nonprofit or for-profit hospitals. In the past, nonprofit hospitals were developed for charity and usually through religious orders. However, with a dramatic rise in health care costs since the 1980s, hospitals have increasingly converted to for-profit enterprise. During the 1980s, the increased health care costs were due to inflation, and new technologies threatened the survival of nonprofit hospitals. Their soul mission was providing health care without regard to a patient 's ability to pay. Employers and government bear most of the expense for health care in the U.S. and have pressured medical providers to decrease costs. Nonprofit hospitals accept everyone. They do not refuse treatment and offer many community-based health programs. For-profit hospitals represent a corporate model of health care, which seeks profit first. For-profit hospitals enjoy higher capital, which in return allows them to purchase the latest medical technologies and create state-of-the-art facilities (Lister). For-profit health care providers claim they are able to provide better care at lower cost due to their focus on efficiency. For-profit hospitals ' focus on efficiency has raised questions of whether cost-cutting impacts consumer health. Both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals provide similar services, each faces demands to cut health care costs. For-profit hospitals have a duty to investors in paying dividends and taking the company in an approved direction.
References: Falchek, David. "In for profit, nonprofit hospital models, differences might be subtle." citizensvoice.com. N.p., 24 July 2011. Web. 13 May 2012. <http://citizensvoice.com/news/in-for-profit-nonprofit-hospital-models-differences-might-be-subtle-1.1179463#axzz1T7e0epwn>. Lister, Jonathan. "For-Profit vs. Nonprofit Hospitals." ehow.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/info_7742145_forprofit-vs-nonprofit-hospitals.html>. Williams, S. J., & Torrens, P. R. (Eds.). (2008). Introduction to health services: 2010 custom edition (7th ed.). New York: Cengage Delmar Learning.