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Healthcare Systems

image of a hospital building

In this part of the tutorial we will look at several aspects of the healthcare system including:

  • Hospital systems
  • Types of patient care
  • Public health programs

Hospital Systems

A hospital system is a group of hospitals or facilities that work together to deliver services to their communities. Different types of hospital systems have different types of ownership and financial goals. Types of hospital systems include:

  • Public Hospitals
    Public hospitals are funded and owned by local, state or federal governments and receives money from the government. Some public hospitals are associated with medical schools.
  • Non-profit Hospitals
    Non-profit hospitals based on charitable purposes and may be associated with a religious denomination. The main goal of a non-profit hospital is to provide services to community and therefore are exempt from paying government taxes.
  • Private Hospitals
    Private hospitals are owned by investors. Their goal is to earn a profit. Private hospitals tend to offer more profitable services such as rehabilitation, elective or plastic surgery or cardiology. They try to avoid unprofitable services such as emergency medicine, which can lose money due to uninsured patients.

Hospital systems deliver care, but what are the different types of patient care? >>>

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