Healthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions

Healthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions offers an introductory overview of the American healthcare system by exploring its many organizations, populations, professions, structures, financing, and delivery models, as well as their impact. Authors Stephen L. Walston and Kenneth L. Johnson delve into the many conflicting issues related to cost, access, and quality. The book’s 14 chapters cover the following and more: a comprehensive review of the health professions and types of healthcare organizations; an exploration of how medical providers are paid; major challenges currently facing physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry; an examination of the long-term and mental healthcare sectors and the increasing demands for their services; the significant role of the government in healthcare, including the influence of politics; the basics of population health, including an in-depth look at how changing social, demographic, and economic conditions in the United States affect healthcare; the connections between health behaviors, health insurance, and health outcomes; information technology’s role in healthcare; a comparison of US healthcare to that in other countries, with a focus on the four basic models on which most healthcare systems are created. To enhance and assess students’ learning, each of the book’s chapters features case studies, thought-provoking questions and assignments, sidebars, and key terms accompanied by definitions. As they read, future healthcare administrators and clinicians will obtain a grounding in the multifaceted US healthcare system, thus enabling them to better address its multiple priorities, controversies, and opportunities.

Kenneth L. Johnson, PhD, FACHE, serves as the associate dean and professor at the Dumke College of Health Professions at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He holds a PhD in health education and has taught primarily in the areas of healthcare administration and population health. He is a past chair of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and a past president of the National Association of Local Boards of Health. He is a fellow of both the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Association of Schools of Advancing Health Professions, representing the latter on the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force. Before his appointment at Weber State, Dr. Johnson worked for 15 years in healthcare, holding positions in hospital administration and medical group management. Stephen L. Walston, PhD, has worked as both a professor and a healthcare administrator. Currently, he serves as the director of the University of Utah’s master of healthcare administration (MHA) program. Previously, he served as the vice president for academic affairs at the University of Utah Asia Campus at the Incheon Global Campus in Songdo, Korea. He was also the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Public Health, an MHA program director at Indiana University, and a faculty member at Cornell University. Before his academic career, he worked as an executive for 14 years in hospitals in the western United States, including 10 years as a CEO. Dr. Walston received his PhD in healthcare systems and management from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.