In the second chapter of In Sickness and Health, I learned about the evolution of the private hospital.
They began to spread like a bad cold. Hospitals started to operate all across the country showing up in a large variety of towns, and as the hospitals began to accumulate the technology started to advance.
Stevens says that even the smallest hospitals of this era were well equipped and leading the way technologically. "The hospital like the hotel, the factory, the club and the symphony, was a manifestation of modern America."
The hospitals of the twentieth century mirror the hospitals of today, as they stressed cleanliness, efficiency and expertise. The most interesting thing is that the financial and political incentives that we see in hospitals today, began between 1900 and 1917. Because hospitals were touting higher rates of success the American Medical Association became a force to reckon.
That said Stevens claims that there was no formal definition of a hospital in the 1900s. The proprietor took a strong hold on the early hospital taking the hospital from the traditional charity model to a business model. Nearly half of all the total hospitals of the time period were set up by proprietors.
These hospitals revolutionized the standard definition. They took the emphasis away from free care, and put it on the best care for the price. Once charity hospitals started facing competition they adjusted their models to make the most prominent model for the time, the private charity model.
The private charity model allowed hospitals to seek affiliation, but still allow for doctors to charge for their services. They quickly became models of the most successful hospitals, models that are still used today.
Unfortunately because these models are still used today, hospitals reek benefits that aren't available to other institutions. The most upsetting being the property tax exemption. Hospitals take up substantial amounts of land, and I don't believe that they are by any means charitable even if a portion of their work is pro bono.
This chapter was incredibly interesting because it showed that many of the practices of modern hospitals evolved right at the turn of the twentieth century. The big question that I'm left with is, why have they still resisted change?
They began to spread like a bad cold. Hospitals started to operate all across the country showing up in a large variety of towns, and as the hospitals began to accumulate the technology started to advance.
Stevens says that even the smallest hospitals of this era were well equipped and leading the way technologically. "The hospital like the hotel, the factory, the club and the symphony, was a manifestation of modern America."
The hospitals of the twentieth century mirror the hospitals of today, as they stressed cleanliness, efficiency and expertise. The most interesting thing is that the financial and political incentives that we see in hospitals today, began between 1900 and 1917. Because hospitals were touting higher rates of success the American Medical Association became a force to reckon.
That said Stevens claims that there was no formal definition of a hospital in the 1900s. The proprietor took a strong hold on the early hospital taking the hospital from the traditional charity model to a business model. Nearly half of all the total hospitals of the time period were set up by proprietors.
These hospitals revolutionized the standard definition. They took the emphasis away from free care, and put it on the best care for the price. Once charity hospitals started facing competition they adjusted their models to make the most prominent model for the time, the private charity model.
The private charity model allowed hospitals to seek affiliation, but still allow for doctors to charge for their services. They quickly became models of the most successful hospitals, models that are still used today.
Unfortunately because these models are still used today, hospitals reek benefits that aren't available to other institutions. The most upsetting being the property tax exemption. Hospitals take up substantial amounts of land, and I don't believe that they are by any means charitable even if a portion of their work is pro bono.
This chapter was incredibly interesting because it showed that many of the practices of modern hospitals evolved right at the turn of the twentieth century. The big question that I'm left with is, why have they still resisted change?