The general NFP hospital model

Throughout the past 30 years, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the proliferation of new forms of health care delivery organizations that challenge and compete with general NFP community hospitals. Traditionally, the health care system in the United States has been dominated by general NFP (NFP) voluntary hospitals. With the number of for-profit general hospitals, physician-owned specialty hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers increasing, a question arises: “Why is the general NFP community hospital the dominant model?” In order to address this question, this paper reexamines the history of the hospital industry. By understanding how the “general NFP hospital” model emerged and dominated, we attempt to explain the current dominance of general NFP hospitals in the ever changing hospital industry in the United States.

'Believes the devil has changed him'. religion and patient identity in Ashburn Hall, Dunedin, 1882-1910

This article addresses asylum patients 'expressions of Christian religious identity in New Zealand's only private asylum, Ashburn Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand, between 1882 and 1910. Religion remains an area that has been under-examined by historians of the asylum. A significant minority of patients admitted to Ashburn Hall turned to religion to interpret their surroundings, express their feelings, or assert their identity within the space of the asylum. For those allowed out of the asylum to attend their own denominational services, religion also opened up a community other than the forced community of the asylum. The recurrence of religious language, delusions, and observance in patient case notes suggests the importance of Christianity in patients' lives and their experiences of the asylum.

[The state and the for-profit hospital in Quebec, 1961-1975: a disappointing experience of partnership]

In 1961, public hospital insurance created a new form of public-private partnership in Quebec by paying for care given in for-profit (proprietary) hospitals. How did it work? How did for-profit hospitals deal with governmental norms and regulations? Why and how was the door closed on the development of for-profit hospitals after a few years of experimentation? On the whole, this partnership proved to be chaotic and inefficient, plagued by endless negotiations. During the seventies, the government appears finally to have concluded that the partnership was not worthwhile. Public-private partnership in the hospital sector, then, existed well before the federal initiatives but has been largely forgotten, despite the reappearance of similar debates.

The treatment of Philadelphia inebriates. From temperance reform to "secret cure"

Preventive education in the United States about the dangers of alcohol had failed to create a temperate society by 1840. But in that year, interest in medical treatment of the "habitual drunkard" rekindled in Philadelphia. It was the year an organization of reformed drunkards revitalized American temperance societies by emphasizing practical concern for the inebriate. The author describes Philadelphia's treatment of alcoholics from 1840 through the beginning of the 20th century, when entrepreneurs were marketing secret cures.

Hospital care at Second Avenue and East 17th Street, New York City, 1894-1984

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Private psychiatric hospitals: "excellence is their watchword"

Throughout their history private psychiatric hospitals have been a major force in psychiatry, and their humanistic concern for the mentally ill has resulted in numerous innovations in treatment. Over the past two decades the sharp increase in psychiatric patient care episodes has resulted in a greater reliance on private psychiatric hospitals, and they have reponded by modifying their role, broadening the spectrum of patients served, and developing alternatives to inpatient treatment. In addition to continuing to provide high-quality inpatient care, private psychiatric hospitals in the future should expand various alternatives to such care, explore opportunities for collaboration with other health care systems, and provide more patient services to the underserved.

Ruthin Castle: a private hospital for the investigation and treatment of obscure medical diseases (1923-1950)

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History of mental health services in South Africa. Part X. Institutions for defectives

The first Government institution for mental defectives was opened at Maitland in the Cape, in 1921, and was named the Alexandra Institution. A second, Witrand, was opened at Potchefstroom in 1923. A third was opened at Howick in Natal, in 1949, and was called the Umgeni Waterfalls Institution. A fourth, at Westlake in the Cape, was opened in 1962 and houses Coloured patients. Over 1 000 defectives are cared for in private institutions.