Healthcare System and Providers
1. What is the overall framework that supports healthcare services to individuals?
Answer: The healthcare ecosystem or system.
2. Who are the key stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem?
Answer: Patients, providers, professional administrators, policymakers, and payers.
3. What are the three main purposes of the healthcare system?
Answer: Affordability, access, and quality.
Healthcare Providers
4. What role do healthcare providers play in the healthcare ecosystem?
Answer: Providers perform various services such as doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and more.
5. What type of provider serves as a client's main point of contact throughout their stay in an inpatient
facility?
Answer: Hospitalists.
6. Which provider type is responsible for performing medical procedures, designing treatment plans,
and coordinating with a client's entire medical team?
Answer: Hospitalists.
Patients
7. Who are the clients receiving healthcare services?
,Answer: Patients.
8. Where do patients find healthcare services to fit their needs?
Answer: Various settings such as emergency departments, urgent care centers, retail clinics, and more.
9. What are the five types of healthcare services?
Answer: Health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation, and chronic
care.
Healthcare Facilities
10. What type of facilities provided care for the disabled or ill in the 1700s before hospitals were
established?
Answer: Almshouses.
11. What is an example of an advanced practice professional?
Answer: A nurse practitioner.
12. Where do patients receive ambulatory care?
Answer: Health care provided outside of institutional settings.
Funding Models
13. What is one of the three major forces affecting the development of hospitals?
Answer: Advances in medical education.
14. How does the hospital industry categorize itself?
Answer: By function or type of service provided, length of stay, and ownership or source of financial
support.
,Government Organizations
15. Which government organization manages Americans' health issues and concerns and leads programs
to advance medical research and public health?
Answer: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
16. Which government program provides health care for family members of disabled or deceased
military service members?
Answer: The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA).
Cultural Competence
17. Why is cultural competence important in health services?
Answer: Because clients' values and preferences will be respected.
Disparities
18. Which type of disparity is a client experiencing if they have received nutritional counseling but have
limited food selection due to being on a fixed income and shopping at a food pantry?
Answer: Access to social needs.
19. Which facility should a 70-year-old client visit if they have been experiencing chest pain for an hour?
Answer: Emergency medical center.
A client is terminally ill and has a life expectancy of two months. Which facility should the client visit?
A hospice
What roles do health providers play in the healthcare ecosystem?
- health and human services workers
- doctors, mid-level providers, nurses
, - therapists (occupational & physical)
- mental health providers
- diagnostic/lab techs
provider
a person or institution that performs a service; for example, a healthcare worker performs health
services.
Why are institutional providers necessary in the healthcare ecosystem?
They are facilities that provide health services to clients like hospitals, post-acute short- and long-term
care facilities, and primary care facilities.
A client has a runny nose and headache. Which healthcare provider does he need to see?
Primary care physician
A 75-year-old client who is recovering from knee surgery is ready to be discharged but is not yet ready
to return home to resume independent living. Which type of facility is appropriate for this client's
needs?
A post-acute short-term care facility
How do healthcare producers impact the purposes of the healthcare ecosystem?
The impact of their work on the healthcare ecosystem determines the health system's survival.
healthcare producers
diverse individuals with various skills and knowledge who provide services to patients
How do costs impact products and producers?
costs affect barriers to entry and the ability to find buyers of products
conventional medical devices
are products that are easy to manufacture with relatively few barriers for entry for new companies and
relatively little product differentiation (e.g., an IV pole)
high technology medical devices
require significant investment in research and development to design, often resulting in patents, and
greater regulatory scrutiny from the FDA (e.g., a pacemaker, surgical instruments and implants)
Class I medical devices
low risk devices such as hand-held surgical instruments and ultrasonic cleaners; subject to "general
controls" but most exempt from pre-market notification approval (501k)