home 1. Describe the differences between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals.
The general belief or theory is that nonprofit hospitals do a better job of focusing on their people; that is, they provide better quality of care. On the other hand, for-profit hospitals are more business oriented; more emphasis is placed on cost and operating efficiency than nonprofit hospital does. I believe this is a significant difference because while staff members in a nonprofit hospital may see themselves as caregivers, staff members in for-profit may seemingly see themselves as cogs in a production wheel.
The mission and purpose for these two types of hospitals is also a very important and makes a significant difference. Financial pressures have forced all hospitals to focus on costs and operating efficiency, blurring the line between money and mission. Still, nonprofit employees believe more strongly that their organization's mission makes them feel that their jobs are important. It seems that the mission of care delivery tends to be more prominent in nonprofit hospitals. Hence, it may be safe to say that nonprofit hospitals do a better job than for-profit hospitals of making their staff feel that their contributions are valued and meaningful.
Lastly, another difference would be in the area of materials and equipments needed to do the work right. With a focus on operating efficiency, for-profit hospitals frequently operate with lower staffing ratios (Woolhandler & Himmelstein, 2004). These lower ratios often lead to higher staff member productivity, which may explain the lack of difference between patient satisfaction scores between for-profit and nonprofit hospitals.
To conclude, a common criticism of for-profit hospitals has been that they focus on operating efficiency at the expense of quality of care. And in fact, the responses to individual employee engagement questions create the impression that for-profit hospitals are less focused on staff needs than not-for-profit hospitals. But personally, I think it all boils down to employee and patient satisfaction. If the question were to be which environment is the best for a prospective employee or patient? The best answer would be it is a matter of the best fit for the individual employee or patient. If the person is drawn to an outcome-focused culture that emphasizes productivity and efficiency while maintaining high levels of quality, then a for-profit hospital may be a better choice. If the individual requires a greater focus on relationships and service, then a non-profit hospital may be the best fit. 2. Describe at least three major trends that have occurred within the hospital structure.
The hospital sector is made up of many different industries and each has different dynamics. They include positive trend like demographics and negative trend related to reimbursement. To describe at least three major trends that have occurred within the hospital sector, I start with: a) Demographics: Population changes have and will continue to be a huge source of future demand for hospital Sector products and services. The older population segment is growing (through increasing average life expectancy & baby boom generation) and becoming more chronically ill. The rise of chronic illness stems from unhealthy lifestyles that have produced significant demand for a variety of healthcare services and thereby becoming a trend in the hospital sector b) Rising Costs: health care costs could be said to be consistently outpacing inflation. The hospital sector have experienced costs rising per bed due to increasing operating expenses and increasing malpractice insurance costs coupled with declining hospital capacity, increased focus on consumer adoption of information technology, and increased focus on quality care and preventative measures; there is significant pressure for upward moving prices. c) Technological advancement: Electronic health record, computerized physician order entry, biometric identification of patient is some of the trends that have occurred in hospital sector. Imaging explosion, digital radiology, total body scan, brain suites or image guided surgeries, PACS, all are being increasingly utilized. Also, advanced biomedical collaboration, anatomical and surgery simulation for teaching and training has replaced traditional training methods. However this has led to increased cost pressure because of the competitiveness attached to it but consumers want to pay for latest technology but not at ridiculous prices. 3. Give three examples that describe and differentiate the roles of hospitals and nursing homes in providing long term care.
Long term care is when a person requires someone else to help him or her with physical or emotional needs over an extended period of time. This help may be required for many of the activities or needs that healthy, active people take for granted. Hospitals play very important roles when it comes to long term care but the roles differ from that of nursing homes when it comes to providing cares that are “long term”.
Hospitals could be said to specialize in short-term patient care. Meaning, as we learned in class; hospitals treat and release their patients rather quickly because of the lack of rooms to accommodate them all, and the many demands from the insurance company. On average, a patient stays at the hospital for about four days. Health care providers in hospitals treat the major problems and tend to ignore or neglect the small one. For nursing homes, the facilities specialize in long term care. According to the National Care Planning Council (2010), “On average patients live in a nursing home for about six months and the average stay for elderly patients who die in a nursing home is just shy of 2 years.
Also at hospitals, Patients come for numerous reasons that differ from one individual to another. Patients come to the hospital in crucial situations, for which teams of medical specialists come together to diagnose, stabilize, and treat conditions. For example, some patients come to the hospital after car accidents, while others need electrocardiograms and medication for heart attacks. While the number of patients is relatively large, their contact with health care providers is small. In a nursing home on the other hand, patients usually stay for basic reasons. Patients mostly come to a nursing facility because they have dementia, cannot take care of themselves, or have undergone surgery and need long term rehabilitations. Also, patients are stabilized and diagnosed with their conditions before arriving in the health care facility
Because of the large number of patients health care providers try to attend to in hospitals, patients usually do not become sociable with health care providers because there is simply not enough time. A patient may see a health care provider a few times while in the hospital. Therefore, the health care provider keeps their conversation with the patient restricted to treatment and/or recovery. While in nursing homes, more time is given to the patients enough to make them feel more comfortable and as at home as possible. Therefore, patients become more personable with the health care provider because they see them on a daily basis over a long period of time, and there is more time to be sociable. In addition, the health care providers not only treat patients with previous diagnoses, but also help the patient with their activities of daily living. 4. Critique the current state of long-term care policy in the United States.
The Issue
As read in the class instructional material, the United States has no single public policy on long-term care (Williams, 2008). However, in my opinion it is one aspect of health care that should be given top most priority and funded adequately. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that works towards a high performance health system reported that an estimated 10 million older Americans with moderate to severe disabilities have long-term care needs, accounting for a large proportion of health care spending (Commonwealth Fund, 2009). And I am sure the demand for long-term care services is only expected to increase as the population ages and of course the intensity of health care needs have grown massively. As hospitals are set up to only treat patients for a certain amount of time, long-term care services which is given to those who need additional rehabilitative services becomes extremely important; services which very few people possess the ample enough financial position to afford. A few have prepared by purchasing annuities or long-term care insurance, but these numbers are small. By the time that most people enter long-term care they have multiple chronic diseases and have probably exhausted their personal wealth on direct medical care. The great majority of the people depend upon their social security pensions and Medicaid to pay for their long-term care.

Addressing the problem
I suggest there should be public payment for family members who provide care, a higher staffing requirement, and more aggressive regulatory enforcement to serve as effective quality improvement strategies. Also, there considering the need for more effective regulation of nursing homes, home health care agencies, and assisted living facilities, the desire to transition toward home- and community-based services, and the importance of payment incentives may be helpful; or better still, the establishment of government-sponsored financing strategies.
To simply put it, the future direction for long-term care will be largely determined by the funding available to pay for it.

References
About Nursing homes. Acute Care Rehabilitation. Retrieved from: http:www//longtermcarelink.net/eldercare/nursing_home.htm
Edward, Alan M. (2009). Reforming Long-Term Care in the United States: Findings from a National Survey of Specialists.

Steffe, Woolhandler & David, Himmelstein, (2004). “The high costs of for-profit care,” Canadian Medical Association Journal, 6/8/04; 170 (12)
Williams, S.J, Torrens, P.R. (Eds.). 2008. Introduction to health services: 2010 custom edition (7th ed.). New York: Cengage Delmar Learning