A Distinctive System of Health Care Delivery

1 Chapter 1A Distinctive System of Health care DeliveryLearning Objectives To understand the basic nature of the US Health care System To outline the four key functional components of a Health care de-livery System To discuss the primary characteristics of the US Health care systemfrom a free market perspective To emphasize why it is important for Health care managers to un-derstand the intricacies of the Health care Delivery System To get an overview of the Health care systems in other countries To introduce the systems model as a framework for studying thehealth services System in the United States1 The US Health care Delivery System is a behemoth that is almost impossible for any single entity to manage and

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8 1 Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTIONI ntroductionThe United States has a unique System ofhealth care Delivery .* It is unlike any otherhealth care System in the world. Most devel-oped countries have national Health insur-ance programs run by the government andfinanced through gener