The author of this paper works in a for-profit medical facility that operates as a business instead of the standard hospital model. According to Barr (2016), the number of institutions that use the approach has been increasing steadily since the 1970s. One likely reason is the flexibility that results from the accumulation of profits and enables the expansion of the services that are provided. Overall, the facility appears to be operating well, achieving financial success and providing a high standard of care. However, it is also necessary to evaluate the differences in policies between the institution and non-profit facilities.
The practices of the facility are generally similar to those used in other, non-profit locations where the author has worked. It still provides some services without compensation despite its status as a business. Almgren (2018) highlights this practice as standard and claims that the levels of spending on uncompensated care are similar in for-profit and non-profit models. The reason is likely that the facility needs to stay competitive with its counterparts, which forces it to match its prices. As such, the policy is necessary to retain clients and maintain the profitability of the enterprise.
Overall, the author has not noticed any overt differences in policy between their current work and their past non-profit ones that they can attribute to the difference in models. However, this finding does not necessarily imply that there are no significant differences in how the facilities operate. As Phelps (2016) notes, for-profits can respond to the needs of the population faster, and for-profit hospital growth is associated with faster population growth. For-profits can make small adaptations to meet the needs of the community that would not necessarily be apparent to the workers but would produce improved outcomes when combined.
References
Almgren, G. (2018). Health care politics, policy, and services: A social justice analysis (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Barr, D. A. (2016). Introduction to US health policy: The organization, financing, and delivery of health care in America (4th ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
Phelps, C. E. (2016). Health economics. Taylor & Francis.