Healthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions

Healthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions offers an introductory overview of the American healthcare system by exploring its many organizations, populations, professions, structures, financing, and delivery models, as well as their impact. Authors Stephen L. Walston and Kenneth L. Johnson delve into the many conflicting issues related to cost, access, and quality. The book’s 14 chapters cover the following and more: a comprehensive review of the health professions and types of healthcare organizations; an exploration of how medical providers are paid; major challenges currently facing physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry; an examination of the long-term and mental healthcare sectors and the increasing demands for their services; the significant role of the government in healthcare, including the influence of politics; the basics of population health, including an in-depth look at how changing social, demographic, and economic conditions in the United States affect healthcare; the connections between health behaviors, health insurance, and health outcomes; information technology’s role in healthcare; a comparison of US healthcare to that in other countries, with a focus on the four basic models on which most healthcare systems are created. To enhance and assess students’ learning, each of the book’s chapters features case studies, thought-provoking questions and assignments, sidebars, and key terms accompanied by definitions. As they read, future healthcare administrators and clinicians will obtain a grounding in the multifaceted US healthcare system, thus enabling them to better address its multiple priorities, controversies, and opportunities.