Description

For introductory courses in Public Health and US Health System/Health Policy intended for community college students and lower-division four-year students enrolled in allied health programs.

An engaging, easy-to-follow introduction to US health care

The United States Health Care System: Combining Business, Health, and Delivery, is the most readable, student-friendly overview of the US healthcare system. Written simply and informally, it focuses on breadth rather than non-essential depth, giving even inexperienced students the knowledge they need to succeed. The unique approach illuminates the realities of the business side of healthcare as well as the practicalities of the delivery of healthcare. It addresses these questions: “What is this business called healthcare?” “How do we pay for healthcare?” “Who provides healthcare?” “Where and how is healthcare provided?” and “What else is included?” as well as related issues ranging from pharmaceuticals to research and prevention. To provide readers with the most up-to-date information, the Third Edition encompasses the many changes that have occurred both in healthcare and in the United States since the last edition was published.

Features

• Appeals to a broad range of readers, with a student-friendly, highly readable style. Written simply and informally, the text focuses on breadth rather than non-essential depth, giving even inexperienced and unprepared students the knowledge they need to succeed.

• Engages students with real-life examples.
• NEW: Career Profiles have been added to all of the chapters, providing students with expanded information about employment opportunities in the healthcare industry, with provider and non-provider options, including a full exploration of careers in insurance, pharmaceuticals, and more.
• Chapter Profile scenarios present realistic healthcare system examples at the beginning of every chapter and link to at least one discussion question per chapter. These scenarios place chapter content into a perspective the student can easily understand and offer instructors the option of using case-type assignments.

• Builds on students’ dual interests in the healthcare field: both to help people and to develop successful careers. Combining health and business perspectives helps students understand healthcare as a major component in the US economy with many employment opportunities.
• UPDATED: Helps students understand the impact of the Affordable Care Act. Throughout the text, an overview of the Affordable Care Act allows students to assess the impact of this legislation on their careers as well as their personal lives

• Illuminates current trends, statistics, and health events.

• UPDATED: Chapter 8, “Aging in America,” has been rewritten to emphasize a broader and more positive focus on aging.
• NEW: Chapter 10 contains information about the current Ebola outbreak.
• NEW: Chapter 14 explores the Ayurvedic healthcare system. Author Victoria Wetle shares her personal experiences with Sri Lankan healthcare to help make this an authentic examination.
• UPDATED: Chapter 11 includes fresh material about the development of new drugs and a description of how a new drug is created to give readers a more thorough understanding of the process.
• UPDATED: All tables and accompanying narrative are updated and current with the most recent data available from government and industry sources.

• Helps students decode unfamiliar terms immediately, so these terms never stand in the way of learning. Glossary and sidebar definitions provide clear explanations of all the specialized terms students will need to understand, with glossary words boldfaced in text, and brief definitions presented in the margins.
• Gives students a tool to guide their reading and test their understanding. Chapter learning objectives preview each chapter’s content concisely and simply.

• Promotes student understanding through intuitive, visual presentations of key concepts and information. Exhibits in every chapter include diagrams or photos to illustrate concepts and highlight relationships, as well as tables presenting important healthcare data.

• Provides the resources instructors need to help students confirm their understanding and deepen that understanding. Chapter summaries and questions for both review and discussion call attention to key points, offering opportunities to test students and promote classroom discussion.

• Gives students the resources they need to explore topics of interest. Extensive chapter references and “For Additional Information” links–both within the text and at the end of each chapter–model appropriate academic documentation for students’ own written work.
• Gives instructors all the resources they need to teach about the US healthca

New to this Edition

• Engages students with real-life examples. Career Profiles have been added to all of the chapters,providing students with expanded information about employment opportunities in the healthcare industry, with provider and non-provider options, including a full exploration of careers in insurance, pharmaceuticals, and more.

• UPDATED: Helps students understand the impact of the Affordable Care Act. Throughout the text, an overview of the Affordable Care Act allows students to assess the impact of this legislation on their careers as well as their personal lives

• Illuminates current trends, statistics, and health events.
• UPDATED: Chapter 8, “Aging in America,” has been rewritten to emphasize a broader and more positive focus on aging.
• Chapter 10 contains information about the current Ebola outbreak.
• Chapter 14 explores the Ayurvedic healthcare system. Author Victoria Wetle shares her personal experiences with Sri Lankan healthcare to help make this an authentic examination.
• UPDATED: Chapter 11 includes fresh material about the development of new drugs and a description of how a new drug is created to give readers a more thorough understanding of the process.
• UPDATED: All tables and accompanying narrative are updated and current with the most recent data available from government and industry sources.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: OVERVIEW AND PAYMENT
1. Health and Care in America
2. The Business Side of Health Care
3. The Payment Process: Insurance and Third-Party Payers
4. The Payment Process: Government Payment Programs
PART TWO: EMPLOYMENT IN HEALTH CARE
5. Health Care Providers: Physicians and Nurses
6. Other Clinical and Non-Clinical Health Care Providers
PART THREE: THE DELIVERY SYSTEMS
7. Offices, Clinics, and Hospitals
8. Aging in America
9. Mental Health Services: A Combination of Systems
10. The Public Health System: The Government's Role
PART FOUR: HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY AND ISSUES
11. Medical Technology, Pharmaceuticals, and Pharmacological Research
12. Health Care Research and Prevention
13. Cultural Competency, Health Literacy, and Health Care Ethics
14. International Health Care

Author

Anne Austin received her B.A. in English from the University of Delaware, her Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina, and her J.D. (cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University. Austin has taught business classes for over 30 years at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Since 1995 she has been employed at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, where she helped to design the Medical Office Management program. Currently, she is the Vice Chancellor of Research, Planning and Assessment. In that position she supervises Information Services, Institutional Research, and the Office of the Registrar. Her primary responsibilities include institutional strategic planning and assessment. She has been actively involved in the college’s accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission, where she acts as a peer reviewer for institutions on the new Open Pathway.

Victoria Wetle began her healthcare career in 1964 in clinical nursing; she worked on the Albert Starr Open Heart team and as a charge nurse for the first Intensive Care Unit in Portland, Oregon. Wetle earned both a Master’s and Doctorate degree at Oregon State University and subsequently initiated the Health Services Management Program at Chemeketa Community College. She was awarded a Fellowship at London University, Balfour College and studied at the Kennedy School of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington DC. She was the Clinical coordinator, H1N1 flu vaccine program, Yamhill County Public Health, in 2009. Currently, Wetle is a volunteer with the US Medical Reserve Corp, Yamhill County, Oregon. Her major interests include biomedical ethics, global health care, traditional health care systems and health care resource allocation. Publications include:   Bloodborne Pathogens, Administrative Manual for Healthcare Managers, 1994, Boston, Jones and Bartlett and Solving The Puzzles in Medical Terminology, 1997, Boston, Jones and Bartlett. She is president of Wetle & Associates, a healthcare consulting company.