Introduction to Health Care, Public Health, and EHRs

Explore how healthcare services are delivered across hospitals, primary care, specialists, and allied professionals in outpatient and inpatient care, including insurance models, access to care, telehealth, quality and safety challenges.

Explore how hospitals function as healthcare providers by types: acute care, specialized services, diagnostic and surgical units, inpatient and rehabilitation care, teaching, research, and roles in public health and prevention.

Primary care physicians coordinate preventive, acute, and chronic care as the first contact for patients. They include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, ob/gyns, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

Specialists deliver expert diagnosis and targeted treatment, performing advanced procedures for complex conditions. They collaborate with primary care, manage chronic cases, educate patients, and participate in multidisciplinary teams and research.

Explore how allied health professionals deliver diagnostic and therapeutic services, preventive care and education, and collaborative, patient-centered support across healthcare settings.

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians drive medication management, patient safety, and collaborative care by reviewing prescriptions, counseling patients, performing health screenings, and administering vaccines.

Discover how nurses deliver holistic patient care across settings through assessment, diagnosis, care planning, education, advocacy, coordination, infection control, and emotional support.

Explore how healthcare services unfold across settings, including hospitals, primary care clinics, specialty clinics, urgent care centers, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, home healthcare, and telehealth.

Explore how hospitals differ by services, ownership, and communities served, from acute care and emergency departments to specialty, teaching, rural, and tertiary or quaternary care facilities.

Explore how primary care clinics serve as the frontline of health care, delivering comprehensive services through family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, women's health, community health, and telemedicine.

Explore how specialty clinics deliver focused expert care across cardiology, dermatology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, neurology, oncology, endocrinology, and more, offering procedures like echocardiograms, endoscopies, and biopsies to improve outcomes.

Compare general, pediatric, orthopedic, occupational health, telemedicine, retail-based, and walk-in urgent care centers, each offering extended hours, on-site imaging, and care for non-life threatening conditions.

Explore types of long term care facilities, including nursing homes, assisted living, memory care, and in home care. Each setting offers services and environments to support aging, disability, or illness.

Explore the diverse types of rehabilitation centers, from physical, occupational, and speech therapy to cardiac, neurological, and pediatric programs, and distinguish inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers.

Explore the diverse types of home health services, including nursing, therapy, social work, and aides, that promote independence, prevent hospital readmissions, and support patients at home.

Explore the differences between hospice and palliative care, including purposes, settings, services, and focus on comfort and quality of life across illness stages.

Explore the types of community health centers, including federally qualified health centers, school-based and mobile clinics, and learn how they provide primary care, prevention, and health education to underserved populations.

Explore telehealth service types—live video, store-and-forward, remote patient monitoring, mHealth, and e-consultations—along with benefits like increased access and improved chronic disease management.

Examine major healthcare insurance models, including employer sponsored insurance, public programs (Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP), HMOs, POS, EPOS, CDHPs, ACA marketplace plans, and direct primary care.

Offer employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) through payroll deductions. Cover outpatient, hospital, preventive care, and sometimes dental and vision, with options such as HMO, PPO, and HDHP, plus tax advantages.

Explore government-funded public insurance programs that provide coverage. Identify how Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, VA, and IHS cover older adults, low-income groups, and military communities with hospital and primary care.

Explore the Medicare public insurance model, detailing eligibility for 65+ or certain disabilities and the parts A, B, C, and D, including costs, enrollment, and preventive services.

Medicaid provides public health insurance for low-income individuals and families, with state-specific eligibility under the ACA, offering comprehensive coverage through managed care with minimal cost sharing.

Explore CHIP, a federal-state program that covers children and families up to 19 with income too high for Medicaid, offering preventive, dental, vision, and emergency services with low cost sharing.

Examine how the Veterans Health Administration and military health systems provide public insurance coverage, deliver comprehensive care, and support readiness through Tricare and DoD‑VA coordination.

Learn how the Indian Health Service provides federal public insurance to American Indians and Alaska Natives, delivering primary care, dental, behavioral health, and preventive services through tribal clinics and facilities.

public insurance programs provide government funded health coverage for vulnerable groups through Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare, and IHS, offering comprehensive services with low or no out-of-pocket costs and state administered flexibility.

Explore health maintenance organizations as a managed care model prioritizing preventive care and cost containment through provider networks, capitation, and PCP gatekeeping, highlighting benefits and limits on referrals and choice.

Explore preferred provider organizations (PPOs), a flexible managed care model offering in-network cost savings, no referrals, and the option to see out-of-network providers at higher costs.

Explore exclusive provider organizations (epos) as a managed care model with network-only coverage, no out-of-network benefits except in emergencies, and lower premiums from negotiated network discounts.

Explore point of service plans, a hybrid between HMOs and PPOs, with network-based care, PCP gatekeeping, referrals, and variable costs for in-network versus out-of-network services.

Explore consumer directed health plans, high deductible health plans, and tax-advantaged accounts like HSA, HRA, and FSA. Learn how these features promote price transparency, consumer engagement, and lower premiums.

Shop and compare ACA marketplace insurance plans across bronze to platinum categories. Access premium tax credits and cost sharing reductions to keep coverage affordable and ensure essential health benefits.

Direct primary care (DPC) is a monthly membership model that bypasses traditional insurance, emphasizing accessible, transparent costs, longer appointments, and a stronger patient–provider relationship.

Explore the availability of healthcare services and its impact on access to care, examining geography, workforce, service diversity, hours, telemedicine, and transportation.

Examine affordability as a cornerstone of access to care, covering premiums, out-of-pocket costs, uninsured, and underinsured. Explore strategies like insurance expansion, transparent pricing, and value based care to reduce costs.

Improve timeliness by ensuring prompt access to care and rapid diagnostic turnaround. Expand emergency care accessibility, efficient scheduling, and timely referrals to boost outcomes.

Geographic accessibility measures how near people live to care, influenced by transportation, infrastructure, and telehealth, with mobile clinics aiding rural access and reducing urban-rural disparities.

Boost access to care by developing cultural and linguistic competence in health care. Provide interpreter services, multilingual materials, and culturally sensitive care for diverse patients.

Discover how insurance coverage enables access to care by reducing financial barriers and supporting preventive, primary, specialty, mental health, and emergency services across public, marketplace, and employer plans.

Define health literacy as ability to obtain, understand, and use health information to make informed care decisions. Examine challenges, strategies, and its impact on access, adherence, preventive care, and equity.

Explore how transportation access affects health care by enabling attendance at appointments, preventing missed care, and supporting continuity for chronic conditions, with solutions like non-emergency medical transportation and ride-sharing partnerships.

Provider availability ensures timely, quality care and access to care by maintaining sufficient providers; shortages in rural areas or specialties call for incentives and telehealth to improve access and outcomes.

Access to care shapes health outcomes by enabling timely, high-quality, equitable health services, enhancing prevention, continuity of care, and patient satisfaction to reduce disparities and improve population health.

Discover telehealth as a flexible, accessible element of health care delivery, combining telemedicine, remote monitoring, health education, and integration with electronic health records and health systems.

Explore how public health improves population health through prevention, health education and promotion, and policy, while reducing disparities and ensuring equitable access to care.

Explore how quality and safety shape healthcare delivery by measuring outcomes, applying evidence-based, patient-centered care, and coordinating across teams to continuously improve and reduce harm.

Explore the challenges in delivering healthcare services, including access barriers, affordability, insurance gaps, regional disparities, care coordination, and patient safety concerns.

Explore how physicians provide direct patient care, guide treatment plans, and span primary care, subspecialties, and surgical disciplines to deliver comprehensive health services.

Explore how nurses serve as key stakeholders in healthcare, delivering direct patient care, leadership, and education across hospitals, clinics, and community settings.

Allied health professionals provide diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and support services while collaborating with physicians and nurses to improve patient outcomes.

Review mental health professionals as key stakeholders in healthcare delivery, highlighting assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and support across hospitals, clinics, schools, and communities.

Identify the diverse roles of healthcare assistants and support staff as vital contributors to effective healthcare delivery, enabling clinicians to focus on complex care.

Explore how hospitals and clinics deliver emergency care, surgeries, and specialized services across general, teaching, trauma, and community hospitals, including cardiac, orthopedic, and pediatric care.

Explore diverse outpatient clinic types from primary care and urgent care to diabetes clinics, cardiology clinics, pediatrics clinics, and mental health clinics, delivering preventive care and chronic disease management.

Explore how public health organizations—from local to international levels, including CDC, NIH, FDA, nonprofit and advocacy organizations, community health centers, and UNICEF—coordinate disease prevention and emergency response.

Explore how alternate and complementary practitioners participate as key stakeholders in healthcare delivery, offering holistic, non-conventional services alongside traditional providers to support prevention, balance, and patient empowerment.

Compare inpatient and outpatient health care facilities, detailing definitions, services, and patient care characteristics. Explore advantages, challenges, and how integrated systems optimize access, costs, and care continuity.

Explore hospital admission pathways—emergency department, primary care referrals, direct and scheduled admissions, interfacility transfers, observation status, urgent care, and postoperative admissions—to optimize patient flow and outcomes.

Explore nursing and residential care facilities, including skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitation, hospice, and in-home care, and learn how they support independence and quality of life.

Review the diverse ambulatory health care services, including primary care, specialty, urgent care, outpatient surgery centers, walk-in clinics, pediatric, women's health, dermatology, dental, telehealth, and more.

Explore how US hospitals form a diverse system, with general, specialty, teaching, and government facilities, handling inpatient admissions, emergency care, and readmission-reducing efforts through electronic health records and telemedicine.

Explore benchmarks to measure health care systems, including quality of care, safety, patient experience (Chaps, NPS), access, efficiency, health outcomes, equity, workforce metrics, and preventive services.

Explore how public health protects population well-being through surveillance, policy development, and prevention. Learn how assessment, policy, and assurance drive disease prevention, environmental health, and emergency preparedness and response.