CENTRAL ROLE OF THE
HOSPITAL IN
MEDICAL CARE
Following World War II a rapidly advancing medical
technology, aided by large injections of government funds, persuaded physicians that the treatment of many ailments and
diseases could be accomplished more efficiently and safely in a hospital than at their
patients' homes. Hospital
facilities and staffs were expanded. As the old public charity wards were gradually replaced by smaller rooms for paying patients, the hospital began to serve all social and economic classes, and the institution now took responsibility for two processes that had previously occurred almost exclusively in the home: being born and dying.
Federal health insurance for the elderly and the poor was provided with the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Both public and private insurance coverage favored payment for inpatient care, giving new impetus to the growth of hospital facilities.
In recent years, advances in medical technology have increased the range of potential medical cure. For the most part, these new technologies are available only in hospitals. New surgical facilities have encouraged the development of cardiac and vascular surgery; there are now innovative intensive-care units for patients with heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease, as well as for those who have suffered severe injuries, especially burns, and for neonatal diseases. Organ transplants and synthetic implants have become almost commonplace.
Diagnostic imaging and scanner procedures, ultrasound, and angiography have vastly improved diagnostic techniques, but they have also required even greater use of hospital facilities.
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