Module 1 Case Mhm 535

Rena H. Sandles

Hospital Administration

MHM535

Module 1

Case Assignment

Dr. Letha Williams

The Government and Historical Trends in Health Hospitals

From the 1700s to the mid-1800s, those who became sick or injured and could pay stayed at home for treatment. Only the lowest class person went to the hospital, which was often only a separate wing on the almshouse, jail, or pesthouse. In the late 1700s, at the urging of European-trained physicians, a few communities established the first community-owned or voluntary hospitals. Although these hospitals admitted both the poor and paying patients, it was not until the late 1800s that hospital stays became widely accepted. As late as 1873, there were only 178 hospitals with a total of 35,064 beds in the entire United States. Only thirty-six years later, in 1909, the number had grown to 4,359 hospitals with 421,065 beds, and by 1929 to 6,665 hospitals with 907,133 beds. (Stephen J. Williams & Paul R. Torrens)

The Great Depression caused a dramatic change in the economic state of hospitals as patients unable to pay for health care simply stayed away. As early as 1930, average hospital receipts fell from $236.12 per patient in the 1920s to $59.26, bed occupancy dropped from 71.28% to 64.12%, and hospital deficits rose dramatically. Hard hit by the depression, the American Hospital Association developed the Blue Cross concept to assure stable revenues. (Stephen J. Williams & Paul R. Torrens)

Inpatient Care

Inpatient care is the type of care that a patient gets when their condition requires admission to a hospital. Over the years the progress in modern medicine and the advent of comprehensive outpatient clinics ensure that patients are only admitted to a hospital when they are extremely ill or are have severe physical trauma. In other words if you are ill or have a severe physical trauma the physician will choose to do inpatient care on you.

The original model for inpatient care required a family...