Future Role of Hospitals
The Future Role of Hospitals
Daniel A. Ponce
Our Lady of the Lake University
HCMG – 7325 Health Care Planning and Policy
Universal health care is on the way for all Americans. President Obama's Health Care Reform will mandate that all Americans have medical insurance by 2014. (Jackson & Nolen, 2010) Either the employers will provide the medical insurance or the individual will have to purchased the medical insurance themselves. Who is responsible for purchasing the medical insurance depends on several factors but those details are not the scope of this paper. The key point of the health care reform law is that every American will be mandated to have medical insurance.
Universal health care coverage will have a major impact on all aspects of health care. We will focus on the impact of universal health care on hospitals. There is no doubt, that all hospitals will have to make major changes in their day to day operations. As the new law takes effect, the hospitals will have to evolve to meet the new requirements. A transformation will need to take place in order to adjust to the new volume of patients that can be expected after the mandate is put in place. The role the hospitals will play in the future will depend on many different factors. We will investigate these evolving roles as we examine what the future role of hospitals will be in America.
Today there are 5,815 registered hospitals in the United States. Of the 5,815 registered hospitals, 5,010 are community based hospitals. There are 2,923 Not-for-Profit community hospitals, 982 For-Profit community hospitals and 1,105 state and local government community hospitals. The remainder of the hospitals are comprised of Federal Government hospitals, Nonfederal Psychiatric Hospitals, Nonfederal Long Term Care Hospitals and a number of Hospital Units of Institutions. ("Fast Facts", 2010)
Each year over 35 million people are admitted to the
Daniel A. Ponce
Our Lady of the Lake University
HCMG – 7325 Health Care Planning and Policy
Universal health care is on the way for all Americans. President Obama's Health Care Reform will mandate that all Americans have medical insurance by 2014. (Jackson & Nolen, 2010) Either the employers will provide the medical insurance or the individual will have to purchased the medical insurance themselves. Who is responsible for purchasing the medical insurance depends on several factors but those details are not the scope of this paper. The key point of the health care reform law is that every American will be mandated to have medical insurance.
Universal health care coverage will have a major impact on all aspects of health care. We will focus on the impact of universal health care on hospitals. There is no doubt, that all hospitals will have to make major changes in their day to day operations. As the new law takes effect, the hospitals will have to evolve to meet the new requirements. A transformation will need to take place in order to adjust to the new volume of patients that can be expected after the mandate is put in place. The role the hospitals will play in the future will depend on many different factors. We will investigate these evolving roles as we examine what the future role of hospitals will be in America.
Today there are 5,815 registered hospitals in the United States. Of the 5,815 registered hospitals, 5,010 are community based hospitals. There are 2,923 Not-for-Profit community hospitals, 982 For-Profit community hospitals and 1,105 state and local government community hospitals. The remainder of the hospitals are comprised of Federal Government hospitals, Nonfederal Psychiatric Hospitals, Nonfederal Long Term Care Hospitals and a number of Hospital Units of Institutions. ("Fast Facts", 2010)
Each year over 35 million people are admitted to the