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.
