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There is a cultural difference between for profit and nonprofit health care organizations. For profit health care organizations are business-driven while nonprofit health care organizations are service-driven (Cheney, 2017). Hospitals, that are for profit, are under more pressure to show a profit as they offer financial incentives to leadership for positive performance and will fire leadership for lack of financial performance (Cheney, 2017). Additionally, for profit hospitals tend to be focused on cost-efficacy and operational costs (Cheney, 2017). In contrast, nonprofit hospitals, in addition to taking care of the patients health needs, are required to provide community health needs assessments, and actively promote services and programs that add health benefits to the community (Wiley & Matthews, 2017).
Public health, as opposed to private health, is paid for by the public through taxation. Public funds coming from taxation are expected to be used on providing public good, not making a profit. The purpose of public health is to protect and improve the health of the people within that community (CDC Foundation, 2020). Therefore, the motivation for public health aligns with the focus of nonprofit hospitals and healthcare organizations. Public health care should be nonprofit, focused on the communitys health care needs, and work to maximize the funding available to offer the greatest benefit to the public they serve.
References
CDC Foundation. (2020). What is Public Health? Retrieved from https://www.cdcfoundation.org/what-public-health
Cheney, C. (2017, June 20). Top 5 differences between NFPS and for-profit hospitals. Retrieved from https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/top-5-differences-between-nfps-and-profit-hospitals
Wiley, L. F., & Matthews, G. W. (2017). Health Care System Transformation and Integration: A Call to Action for Public Health. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 45, 9497. doi: 10.1177/1073110517703335