Abstract
The health care system in the United States is supported by numerous facilities providing different types of medical care for patients. Analysis of the whole spectrum of health care facilities in the U.S. helps to identify the specifics of each type.
The spectrum of health care facilities in the U.S.
Hospitals constitute the largest group of health care facilities in the U.S. There are different types of hospitals including general and specialized ones. General hospitals provide comprehensive care and have emergency departments providing the care needed in urgent situations. Specialized hospitals provide care for a specific range of health care issues. Clinics are the facilities that provide outpatient care, and they can be divided into general clinics and specialized clinics. Hospices are medical institutions providing inpatient care for deadly ill patients. Nursing home care involves a range of facilities, including skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, and assisted living facilities. These types of facilities are the places of permanent or constant residence for elderly or disabled patients.
The purpose and goals of different types of health care facilities in the U.S.
The purpose of hospitals is to provide comprehensive inpatient care and various types of medical services. The main goals of hospitals include dealing with different types of diseases and injuries and providing intensive or long-term care. General hospitals in the U.S. have various departments aimed at treating a wide range of healthcare issues while specialized hospitals focus on creating a limited group of health problems.
The purpose of clinics is to provide efficient outpatient medical care. The main goals of clinics include dealing with the diseases that can be treated while the patient stays at home or regularly visit the medical facility. General clinics are aimed at providing outpatient care for a wide spectrum of diseases while specialized clinics deal with particular areas of healthcare.
The purpose of hospices is to ensure appropriate conditions of life for deadly ill patients. The main goal of such institutions is to serve the needs of the patients who are supposed to live less than six months.
The purpose of skilled nursing facilities is to provide care for people who no longer need hospital treatment but still require medical surveillance for recovery. Such facilities are aimed at providing appropriate treatment for the recovery of the patients till they are can for themselves at home. The purpose of intermediate care facilities is to provide care for patients who are disabled or ill but do not need hospital intensive care. Assisted living facilities are aimed at providing constant care for elderly or disabled patients that need help to cope with everyday routine.
Cooperation of different types of facilities
All types of facilities are interrelated with each other, as most U.S. citizens require the medical care of different types of health care facilities during their lifetime. Clinics serve as the primary frontier for preventing and dealing with chronic disease and other illnesses. In case the patient needs more intensive care, the specialists working in any clinic will inform the patient about the need for hospital care. If the health problems detected at the general hospital need to be addressed by specialists specializing in the particular area, the patient will be advised to attend a specialized hospital. After providing appropriate treatment, the hospital will send the patient to a skilled nursing facility to ensure his full recovery. Hospices, intermediate care facilities, and assisted living facilities are the places where the patients with problems that no longer can be solved at the hospital live. Such illustration of connections between different health care facilities reveals the high level of cooperation between them.
Responsibility for the oversight of the facilities
All parts of the health care system, including non-profit, government-owned, and for-profit medical institutions, are guided by government regulations. Federal and state regulations present a complex system of guidelines for all kinds of health care facilities (Studdert, Mello, Jedrey, & Brennan, 2007). The relation between performance and the organization of the facility is the basis for policies regulating different institutions (Jensen, Webster, & Witt, 2009). As most health care provision is provided by different governmental programs, people involved in guiding these programs are obliged to control the appropriate use of investments in health care facilities. Such programs are largely funded by the government, as the United States is one of the countries that spend the biggest amount of money on health care (Diebel, 2015).
The similarities and differences of the health care facilities
The main similarities between different types of health care facilities are related to their common purpose to provide the best quality of medical services. All of them require their employees to have appropriate qualifications and are strictly regulated by federal and state laws. The differences between them are related to the variety of fields of health care services. While hospitals focus on providing inpatient care, clinics mostly serve for providing outpatient care. Hospices stand out from the rest of the facilities as they are focused on relieving painful symptoms and providing appropriate conditions for patients with “life-limiting” illnesses (Hospice care, 2015, par.1). Skilled nursing facilities provide care for temporarily disabled patients that need more time for recovery while intermediate care facilities and assisted living facilities provide care for patients who have serious disabilities and need constant surveillance and the help of specialists.
All types of health care facilities serve for different needs of the patients in the U.S. Each of them plays a crucial role in providing comprehensive services for all categories of the population.
References
Diebel, D. (2015). US health care system: We can do better. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 212(6), 747.e1-747.e4.
Hospice care. (2015). Web.
Jensen, P., Webster, E., & Witt, J. (2009). Hospital type and patient outcomes: an empirical examination using AMI readmission and mortality records. Health Economics, 18(12), 1440-1460.
Studdert, D., Mello, M., Jedrey, C., & Brennan, T. (2007). Regulatory and judicial oversight of nonprofit hospitals. The New England Journal of Medicine, 353(6), 625-631.