Question

In what way is health care a business? In what ways is it not? In what way is the business case in health care different from organizations in other sectors of the US economy? Do you believe the business case for diversity and cultural competence in health care is strong enough that leadership in US health care provider organizations should make strategic diversity management and cultural competence a high priority?Support your answers with logical argument and factual information and use APA format for in-text citation.

Answer 1

Healthcare is a huge industry throughout the world and a large number of professionals are employed in this industry. Healthcare is primarily for the benefit of the masses but there are lot of investments that goes into this industry ranging from educating the professionals to procure the intricate equipments for conducting various medical tests and so on. Therefore, there is a need to recover such investments from the patients or their family. These requirements make healthcare a business prospect when used as a ongoing concern.

Healthcare cannot be considered as a business from an ethical and moral persepctive. Healthcare should not be classified as a profit making entity wherein the margins can be increased as per the wish of the shareholders. Moreover, there are several situations wherein heathcare facilities need to be provided without the assurance of returns on investment. It is the moral duty of everyone to create a healthy and strong society and hence, profit motives need to be shed in order to operate in healthcare industry.

As mentioned above there is always a perspective of mass benefit of the people in the healthcare industry and one cannot back way from providing healthcare service dur to ineffcient business prospects. Increasing the wealth of shareholders is not the only motive of a healthcare business but there are other moral obligations as well which makes it different from the other business opportunities.

Diversity and cultural competence are some of the parameters which have worked well for other industries in order to incorporate new ideas and bring new perspectives in the ways of doing business. However, in the healthcare industry it is more about following the protocols in the proper manner and providing healthcare to the patients in a well defined manner. Therefore, although cultural competence and diversity should work for healthcare as well, the business decisions should not be driven by those parameters.