Not-for-Profit Healthcare, For-profit Healthcare and Physician Incentives

Some medical facilities are not-for-profit organizations. They can be a charitable organization or an educational organization or both. There are other not-for-profit medical and public health programs that provide health care to many communities in this country. Some of the best hospitals in America are educational not-for-profit facilities. They work with some of the newest technology and some perform experimental procedures. Most public health programs are ran as not-for-profit organizations and operated for charitable and educational purposes. The not-for-profit organization is not liable to pay taxes under IRS code 501 (c)(3) (.org). This allows the organization to put its revenues back into the organization versus having to pay investors or owners. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years the amount of for-profit organizations has increased (Santa). The growing commercialization of health care has ethical implications and has become a matter of heated controversy (Santa). It’s becoming more difficult despite all the laws and regulations to protect patient’s privacy and confidentiality. An ethical implication that for-profits face is physicians receiving incentives for keeping cost down to increase profits. Some for-profits will encourage doctors to promote profit producing drugs, surgeries, tests and treatments. (Santa). Some of these same physicians may own the facility they operate which creates a huge conflict. On the other hand, financial incentives can cause physicians to delay important tests and treatments or to not perform them at all. In some cases patients are being discharged from hospitals before they are ready to go home (Orentlicher). On an ethical standpoint, the patient’s well being is put in jeopardy and the...

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