title: From ministry to market. Catholic healthcare can survive in an age of commercialization.
abstract: Large, for-profit healthcare corporations now dominate hospital and physician services in many parts of the nation. Such organizations are under unrelenting pressure to produce profits; news stories show that these pressures can lead for-profits to engage in questionable, even illegal activities. Also, for-profits are unlikely to provide much care for the poor and uninsured. Unfortunately, Catholic providers have several disadvantages when competing with for-profits, and one is the fact that they do provide care for the poor. Catholic providers are handicapped also by: Problems with their geographic locations. Difficulties in creating partnerships with physicians. Lack of access to capital. Loss of political influence. On the other hand, Catholic healthcare providers have several advantages over for-profits. Among them are: A reservoir of public goodwill. Experience in forming networks The potential for prudent growth. A common vision. Access to Church pulpits. The influence of women and men religious Given theses advantages, Catholic health ministry leaders could boldly restructure their own organizations, and, in doing so, mitigate the commercialization of healthcare in the United States.
authors.affiliation: University of Tampa, FL, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Semple
mesh_terms: D002202:Capital Financing; D002608:Charities; D016542:Chief Executive Officers, Hospital; D004465:Economic Competition; D005607:Fraud / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006759:Hospital-Physician Joint Ventures; D016519:Hospitals, Religious / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D011203:Poverty; D014481:United States