General Healthcare Industry

Medical records are vital to a patient's health history and treatment. Used by doctors, hospitals and health care facilities, it is important to know what is contained in your medical records....

Medical costs are a major problem for Americans. A study published in 2009 in the American Journal of Medicine, in fact, found that 62 percent of bankruptcies filed in 2007 related to medical...

Many individuals with or without health insurance coverage do not seek care even when they see a need. Identifying barriers to health care is important because of the negative effects of...

Ambulatory health care centers provide a wide range of health services. These include services for individuals who are not admitted to a hospital. The range of services can include those provided...

The overwhelming feeling of not being understood seemed to be the biggest challenge that hit me when I became ill for an extended period of time. At times my doctor and I did not seem to be on the...

Government authorities, policy experts and academic faculty have been tracking health care trends for a variety of topics for decades. Thanks to the work of foundations, universities, think tanks,...

Health care reform has taken center stage as the government is desperately looking for solutions to ballooning health care costs and a growing uninsured population. While no-one can predict...

We have all read the headlines. There are less doctors per patient in many areas. Hospitals may have residents, medical students, or other less experienced professionals working during off-peak...

Health care industry statistics show that it is the biggest sector in the U.S., including government-funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Health care market information can be used by...

Over 50 years ago, informed health care providers, along with the development of new medicines and vaccines, helped improve a patient's chance of survival. In prior centuries, nuns provided...

Identifying trends in health care is easy because there are numerous private and public organizations that do precisely that. One example is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The...

Single-payer health insurance provides and pays for universal or near-universal health care for a country's population. Under this public service, the government provides health insurance instead...

Finding a primary care physician who participates in Mass Health, the public health insurance program for the commonwealth of Massachusetts, is very easy. Government resources and local community...

Some patients' rights in the United States are mandated by state and federal law, and some are part of an individual institution's policies. Also influential on the health care system is the...

At a time when healthcare costs have become so high that they can plunge people into bankruptcy, many people look to government to assist, or even completely cover, medical costs. Whether free...

General, or allopathic, medicine the most accepted, mainstream health care system throughout most of the developed world. Holistic care is the oldest form of health care, however, and these...

The ongoing efforts by Congress to overhaul the nation's health care system have led many to wonder how to define the key benchmarks of access and quality. What do experts mean when they speak...

Health care informatics uses technology, such as computers and networking, and multidisciplinary health sciences, such as biomedical and pharmacy, to improve patient care. Informatics organizes...

Informatics is the process of advancing in a discipline with a combination of data, information and knowledge. Nursing informatics encompasses the devices, machines, resources, and methods of...

Health care system architects and technology proponents see a natural adoption of information technology with health care information. However, the health care industry has been one of the slowest...

Although the classification of "Patient Advocate" can denote an actual paid professional position of someone acting as a liaison between a patient and health care worker, more often than...

The scope of health economics extends beyond merely examining the allocation of health care resources to meet societal health needs. This specialty also concerns itself with health in general and...

The American Heart Association (AHA) has its own specific priorities with regard to health care in the U.S. In addition, the organization sponsors various websites and groups in its efforts to...

Patient rights are always under heavy scrutiny in the health care field, and what constitutes abandonment is always being questioned. However, there are clear guidelines that must be followed and...

Direct care givers are a growing group of service providers who assist people in their home or a facility with activities of daily living such as personal care, grooming, medication needs or meal...

According to PCI Health Training Center, a patient care technician works with site doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, providing direct care to patients in many health care...

Economics is all about how societies allocate scarce resources to meet societal needs. In an era of rising medical costs and concerns about how to reform health care systems to tame costs and...

When Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPAA), it created a health-care coat of many colors, containing seemingly disparate elements that impact your...

The factors affecting health care are varied and far-reaching. As health care around the world is examined, access and use are gaining more attention. If you have health problems -- chronic or...

An acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) is an advanced practice nurse with a master's degree in nursing (MSN) who has completed a course of study that includes theoretical content and supervised...

The HIPAA Privacy Rule took effect in 2003. It has a number of functions, one of which is to control the release of medical records. Records can only be released to certain people under certain...

France's health care system has been ranked No. 1 in the world by the World Health Organization, and some believe that the U.S., which ranked No. 37, should follow France's lead.

Among the changes to the health care industry are the definitions of the level of care you can receive. The length of time for care also has changed dramatically in some areas of health care....

Nurses are responsible for the care they provide to their patients. Evidence-based practice in nursing means making decisions about patient care on the basis of current best available evidence. It...

Approximately 600 million clinical documents are dictated in the United States annually, and 60 percent are transcribed reports. When you see a medical professional, they document your visit by...

The role of the nurse is to promote the health of their patients and to prevent illness. Nurses provide patients and their families with education, advice and support. Nurses work under the...

At the end of the Second World War, Britain looked to the future and how it could build a better country for its people. With a plan to improve the country quickly and effectively after the...

Nursing-care plans are an important part of the nursing process. They allow nurses to diagnose health problems and threats, create goals to avoid or overcome those problems, and interventions to...

Health Unit Coordinators support medical professionals by maintaining a health care facility's service and performance. Health unit coordinators in some health care facilities are known as unit...

The Joint Commission (TJC), formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, is an organization founded in 1951 that certifies and accredits health care organizations. To have...

Nursing covers a wide range of disciplines and health-care issues that are always changing and at the forefront of what guides this career path. Issues such as health-care reform, nursing...

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, more commonly known as HIPAA, was enacted to improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage and health care...

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, more commonly known as HIPAA, is designed to improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage and care delivery.

Certified nursing assistants or aides are health care professionals who are responsible for assisting patients with basic care. Nursing assistants work with patients and help with dressing,...

Volunteering can be a very rewarding and challenging experience for healthcare professionals. If you are a nurse, doctor or allied health professional looking for that perfect volunteer...

In 1998, the Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry developed a series of patient bill of rights. These are a set of guidelines seeking to achieve goals...

The health care industry is subject to numerous ethical and legal issues. Through years of regulation, the addressing of many concerns brought changes to the actions of medical care providers and...

Health care is a booming business filled with various jobs that require different skill levels. However, health care providers are at an increased risk for harm or injury while on the job. As a...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advise the use of "universal precautions" to prevent the spread of bloodborne pathogens, or disease. The universal precautions minimize...

Knowing where to go when you have a health related problem can be confusing. Health care services have been established to make it easier for patients to receive proper care. In order to receive...