HISTORY OF HOSPITALS

History of Hospitals in the United States

History of Hospitals in the United States

Introduction

Hospitals are the centerpiece of U.S. healthcare. Hospitals are multipurpose healthcare institutions. They provide a place for physicians and other clinicians to treat patients, for special diagnostic and treatment services, and for emergency care services. They are important resources in times of crises, for aggregating healthcare assets to benefit the community, and major sources of employment and other economic benefits. Hospitals also often serve as focal points for the coalescing of people's efforts to address the healthcare needs of communities.

Discussion and Analysis

In 2006, there were a total of 5,747 hospitals registered with the AHA in the United States of the total, the majority, 4,927, were community hospitals (85.7%). Most of the nation's community hospitals were nongovernment not-for-profit institutions (2,919 hospitals, or 59.2%), followed by state and local government institutions (1,119 hospitals, or 22.7%) and investor-owned institutions (889 hospitals, or 18.0%). Most community hospitals, 2,926 (59.4%), were located in urban areas, while 2,001 (40.6%) were in rural areas (American Hospital Association, 2008). And most community hospitals (2,755 or 55.9%) were members of a multihospital healthcare system (Axinn, 1982). In terms of non-community hospitals, there were 221 federal hospitals (e.g., Veterans Affairs, Public Health Service, and Department of Justice hospitals), 451 non-federal psychiatric hospitals, 129 non-federal long-term care hospitals, and 19 hospital units of institutions (e.g., prison hospitals and college infirmaries). There were a total of 947,412 staffed hospital beds in the nation, with community hospitals accounting for 802,658 beds (84.7%). There were a total of 37,188,775 admissions to all hospitals, with 35,377,659 admissions to community hospitals (95.1%). The total expenses for all hospitals were $607,355,354,000, with community hospitals accounting for $551,835,328,000 (90.8%) (Braddock, 2000).

With universal interest rapidly growing in all parts of the United ...