Healthcare is often mispelled or used incorrectly. While this may seem minor, its misapplication can significantly decrease clarity when writing. This article examines proper usage of this term and why it would be preferable to avoid its hyphenated version whenever possible.
When using this phrase, it is important to differentiate between health care as a business and specific health services or industries. When discussing specific activities or services related to healthcare, more general terms will suffice while more specialized terms such as healthcare business are more apt.
Healthcare is an indispensable business sector that encompasses an expansive spectrum of activities and services. This includes diagnosing, preventing, treating and rehabilitation for illness and injury as well as other lifesaving procedures – not to mention health insurance and other welfare benefits being provided – among many others. Furthermore, this sector comprises various industries such as hospitals, medical and dental practices as well as allied health professions; scientific / diagnostic laboratories; residential health facilities as well as drug manufacturing / delivery to name just some examples.
To ensure quality health care services for all, it is critical that the health sector receives adequate funding and that this money be distributed fairly and equitably – this can be difficult with so many parties involved including governments and insurers as well as political ideologues vying for control of this process.
Unfortunately, the financial security of healthcare sectors worldwide is increasingly threatened by competing interests and government policies that undermine free market principles that drive improvements in efficiency and value creation. As a result, their free market principles – that would otherwise drive efficiency gains through efficiency measures or third-party payers – have either been misapplied or subverted entirely, with quality healthcare worsening dramatically across most nations.
Healthcare has become an integral component of global economic development. As demand for services increases, we must create an efficient system of care to meet this rising need effectively and efficiently. To do this, all stakeholders must come together in working towards improving user experiences.
Complex issues cannot be solved instantly; but an essential first step should be creating an open dialogue among all stakeholders to share ideas and come up with solutions that benefit everyone involved. We can only hope that healthcare continues its journey towards improvement so it may continue improving lives around the globe.