Health Care Guide and Directory
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Health care personnel work in various health fields and range widely in their training and job skills. They include, but are not limited to, physicians, dentists, assistants, nurses, specialists, and administrative workers. Optometrists, chiropractors, psychologists, occupational therapists, registered nurses, art and music therapists, electroencephalographic (EEG) technicians, pharmacists, and home health aides are just a small example of the many careers available in the growing health care industry.
In recent years, the United States government has enacted and implemented the Affordable Care Act, which is intended to provide Americans with better health security by means of comprehensive health insurance reforms. This legislation strives to expand health insurance coverage, hold insurance companies more accountable for their decisions, reduce health care costs, provide more health care options, and enhance health care quality for the American people.
Partially because of the Affordable Care Act, many factors of the health care
system are undergoing tremendous change. As we move into the future, the
focus on individual hospitals is shifting to multi-hospital and integrated
delivery systems (IDS), and many surgeries are now performed on an outpatient
basis, providing cost savings to health care providers and insurance companies
alike. In addition, the fastest growing group of Americans is 65 and
older, prioritizing the need for growth of long-term and continuing care
facilities.
In addition to mainstream health care and medical treatment approaches, many Americans utilize alternative and complementary medicine treatment modalities whose effectiveness has not been established using scientific methods. Some of these products and techniques may be effective in certain situations, but some of them have also been proven ineffective or even harmful.
As our population continues to expand and shift, new health and medical services will be needed, and more efficient means of providing care will become imperative. Furthermore, government budget constraints and the expansion of health management organizations (HMOs) will pressure health care providers to control costs more carefully.
For more information about health and medicine, visit the Health Information page on the National Institutes of Health website, and read the book Introduction to the Health Professions.
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