(HDS) Healthcare: Influencing Factors Lesson

Healthcare: Influencing Factors

Healthcare services and facilities have evolved over the course of history in response to the culture and demands of the time period. The Civil War and the period after defined the emergence of hospitals and specialized care. 1930-1965 was characterized by workers moving from the city to suburbia and advances in medicine with the discovery of penicillin as an antibiotic, streptomycin to combat tuberculosis, and the Salk vaccine as a remedy to Polio. This demographic shift removed the tax base support for healthcare and left the poor and unemployed with few treatment options. As a result, the Mid-1960s to 1980 focused on developing resources that improved access to care through federally supported healthcare plans for certain populations. By 1980 the implementation of the "open door" hospital was realized as a measure to address the ongoing cost crisis associated with the delivery of an expectable standard of quality health care.  

With that said, where are we now? What exactly is defining the current evolutionary healthcare period?  

 

 

 

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