Insurance quickly caused hospitals to become the epicenter for medical practice. As hospitals became epicenters, they adopted what I call the one stop shop practice. Doctors were able to refer in house, and through referrals, consults and the advanced technology that was available to hospitals the accuracy of diagnosis advanced greatly.
However these advances were not without hiccups. Hospitals weren’t sure how the proposed health insurance system would work, and they wouldn’t receive answers until 1918 when the AHA finally endorsed compulsory state health insurance, and then took over any remaining problems personally. However because they stalled on the insurance by 1920, it was too late. The insurance complicated everything and because of it the insurance movement would die in 1920.
Hospitals were in a state of disarray. They were lacking resources because of the war. But if it wasn’t for the war and the specialization they learned from it, the teaching hospital would never have emerged as the standard for the postwar hospital.
One of the biggest takeaways from the war however was the idolization of nurses. The profession was seen as a heavily female profession, and although after the war feministic material was still included on nursing instruction. The acts of heroics seen throughout the war made the nurses a position to look up to.
All of these changes, and the emerging dominance of the teaching hospital throughout the war made the teaching hospital the general consensus as the best move moving forward. The war was a time for both praise and criticism, but it also made a clear cut model to follow in the future.