The Hill-Burton Act Of 1946: A Case Study

Since the first hospital was constructed in 1751, the forever stability of the hospital system has been forever fluctuating. One of the largest contributors to providing access for those in need of healthcare, but with limited financial access, was the Hospital Survey and Construction Act, also known as the Hill-Burton Act of 1946. The idea of the Hill-Burton Act being implemented, was to help strengthen the hospital system and provider a better access for those in need. Hospitals took an impact between the Great Depression and World War II. Government and private funding became scares in their support to create to sustain hospitals became obsolete. Another impact was the lack of hospitals available, over 40 percent of the nation’s counties
The goal was to help close the gap for those in rural areas that could not access hospitals and provide a reasonable amount of generous services. The charity was granted by the facility and did not include the provider fee. Those that were approved for charity were based on the number of family and income. The project took off in 1950 and Hill-Burton Act was credited for increasing the bed capacity in the hospital from 3.2 beds per 1,000 to 4.5 beds per 1,000 persons. (Sultz & Young, 2014). From 1947 to 1975 there was a decrease in the number of beds being instituted in the hospital due to the care processes changing. During this time, Medicare was paying at a retrospective cost basis, meaning that hospitals charged in accordance to the money they spent. From 1973 to 1983 health care spending increased from $103 to $335 billion. (Arnett, Cowell, Davidoff &Freeland, 1986). In December 1982, Congress passed the prospective payment system (PPS), which began in late 1983. The reimbursement was to be based on the charge type driven by diagnosis-related group (DRG). Care that once was inpatient moved to an outpatient setting as a more controlled cost
Increased facilities along with the opportunity of care for the poor and uninsured was thanks to government interjections. The Affordable Care act (ACA) is one of many bold intrusions the federal government has made in the last 70 years. (Schumann, 2016). Along with some success the continued struggles that have followed helped push the current move to a more structural, unified care system. Hospitals and Physicians are some of the primary reasons for healthcare costs to be at an all-time high. Not to say that Medicare has not helped in the same aspect. The decrease in reimbursements requires facilities to increase the overall cost to insurance a needed payment to cover overhead