Health Care USA: Understanding Its Organization and Delivery, Seventh Edition

by Harry A. Sultz, Kristina M. Young

Health Care USA, Seventh Edition, offers students of health administration, medicine, public health, and related fields the most comprehensive overview of America’s health care system under a single cover. Combining historical perspective with analysis of modern trends, this expanded edition charts the evolution of modern American health care, providing a complete examination of its organization and delivery while offering critical insight into the issues that the U.S. health system faces today. From a physician-dominated system to one defined by managed care and increasingly sophisticated technology, this essential text explains the transformation underway and the professional, political, social, and economic forces that guide it today and will in the future. Exhaustive in breadth and balanced in perspective, Health Care USA, Seventh Edition, provides students with a clearly organized, straightforward illustration of the complex structures, relationships and processes of this rapidly growing, $2.5 trillion industry. The seventh edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect recent developments in this dynamic industry. The latest edition features: • A comprehensive overview of the complex and evolving U.S. health care system, plus revised data, material and analysis throughout. • The latest benchmark developments in health care, including the response of public health to swine flu and the Obama administration’s health care reform. • A look at the recent recession’s effects on hospital finances. • New projections and data trends on the country’s health care spending. • A forward-looking perspective on the future of the U.S. health care system.

Genres: Health Care, Medicine

464 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Daniel Mala]

Fitting for the class, current and relative. Not exactly and absorbing read, but reads well enough to not put me to sleep. It’s nice that it included the many changes made by the ACA, but I imagine it may be dated in short order if heath policy tilts one way or the other.

[Jason Carling]

All in one stop guide to American healthcare

This is a wonderful text. I read this as a Canadian looking from the outside in. The text does a wonderful job on enlightening the reader on almost all aspects of the US health system. The text presupposes little about the reader and the authors do a great job providing relevant background - for example on how the insurance system in the US came to be. I found coverage of the ACA to be sufficient in breadth and depth. Closing the book, I am now leaps and bounds more informed on the US health system than I was before. Given the incredible health crisis that we face, and the serious lack of knowledge in the public regarding the magnitude, I would say that this book should be required reading for everyone, but that is wishful thinking. I would however, recommend the book to any student of health systems, regardless of what country they are from.

[Beth]

Excellent - everyone should read this and be informed about our healthcare system. It puts the Affordable Care Act into perspective and breaks it down in terms of what it means for our country. The ACA is not perfect by any means but is a step in the right direction. If everyone had the knowledge this book provides - boy would I love to see that America.

[Katherine]

A good foundation about Health Care in the US largely written from a population/public health perspective.

[Mandy]

I read this textbook for school. It was easy to understand. They did a good job simplifying a complicated healthcare system!

[Carrie]

Glad to be done with this class. Learned a lot but happy to sell this book back to Amazon. Semester is finally over :)

[Nikhil P. Freeman]

A tedious journey.

[Rue S.]

Time to list the new edition, Goodreads!