The Nine Major Segments of Health Care
When people think of health care, they often conjure up images from their own experiences in doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals. Then there are the images of intense drama and hustling and bustling in hospitals and emergency rooms such as those presented on television and in the movies. These are all part of the health care arena, but it extends far beyond the emergency room.
While the majority of the health care industry operates from inpatient and outpatient facilities, there are other sites as well. Health care establishments include nine major segments. These are:
Hospitals: They can be general or specific and provide complete medical care primarily on an inpatient basis.
Nursing and residential care facilities: These include rehab, convalescent, and long-term care facilities as well as independent and assisted-living facilities.
Physicians' offices: These are the offices of physicians and surgeons.
Dentists' offices: These include the offices of general or specialized dentists and dental surgeons.
Home health care agencies: They provide skilled-nursing care as well as physical, occupational, and speech therapy; social work; and home health aide services for patients at home (on an intermittent basis).
Offices of other health care practitioners: These Include chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, outpatient therapists (physical, occupational, and speech), dietitians, psychologists, audiologists, alternative medicine practitioners, and veterinarians.
Outpatient care centers: These include urgent-care centers, kidney dialysis centers, outpatient mental health centers, and clinics.
Other ambulatory care centers: These include patient transport services (ambulance, helicopter), blood banks, organ donation banks, and smoking cessation centers.
Medical and diagnostic laboratories: These include x-rays, MRI, CAT scans, mammography, and clinical laboratory studies.
Many of these sectors operate around the clock and require workers on all shifts. Some offer only on-call assistance after hours, on weekends, and holidays, in which case workers may share or rotate the on-call duties.
