What a hodgepodge... and the US is much worse...
From what I understand,..there are 4 types of hospital here...
...county or state... mostly for indigent, and poor...
...religious,.. which is for-profit, but somehow church affiliated...
...educational,.. related to medical training, but still for-profit, with a collection of med students and teachers on staff...(research happens here)...
... and private,.. strictly a commercial enterprise..
I have no clue which is better... I guess it depends on why you're there...
![Huh Huh](/yabb2.2/Templates/Forum/new/huh.gif)
...
... but, to my mind.. hospital, should be for emergency, and surgery...
... private practice doctors,.. should be for the rich... or chronically ill...
... and the most efficient general care, comes from clinics...
This is a collection of medical experts... doctors, nurses, lab, test, and x-ray... that can handle medical needs that don't require major surgery, or chronic care...
Coughs, colds, flu,.. cuts, bruises, broken bones, etc...
One facility, that can triage, test, diagnose, and treat or refer the patient to a specialist or hospital if needed...
Cheaper, faster, and more convenient... for basically healthy people in need of care...
The system here,.. is emergency room, for those without insurance... or a gauntlet of private doctors, separate labs, and test centers, and specialist doctors, for those with insurance...
Clinics,.. offer "one stop" care... to take care of all symptom analysis and treatment up to the point of needing specialist treatment or surgery and hospitalisation...
A for-profit system,.. does not encourage this type of care.. too efficient...
There's more money in the gauntlet of care... gatekeeper, refers for tests, back to gatekeeper, refer to specialist,.. refer to surgeon, refer to hospital... where all of them drop in to collect fees...and then run the gauntlet in reverse for post-op check-ups and advising...
In America,.. you either don't get decent care, or you get too much...
You either go straight to the emergency room, and get kicked out fast... or you run around in a mad circle of appointments to get what everybody knows you need...
We are a medical mess...
My hope,.. is that a single provider system (eventually,... Obamacare is only a prototype),.. will encourage a unity of purpose that will make care more efficient and effective...
Healthcare is more effective and efficient almost anywhere but here...
PS.. I'm British born,.. and have lived in England, Germany, and the US...
(Care in the US is the worst... although, military care works well and is efficient)... I'm a military brat...