To: Dr. Clover (last response needed for Unit 3 second week)

 
Your post gives the impression that a for-profit healthcare facility is not interested in delivering quality care. While profit and shareholder value are on their list of priorities, a degree of quality care remains a goal. I worked for a for-profit (I pray I never work for another) and even when presented with an incredible financial deal, they will often reject it due to the outlay of funds. For example, I brokered a deal with one of our vendors to replace 4 way-past-their-product-life-cycle ventilators with 4 new ones (trade-in) and full upgrade of our 2 newer ventilators for a total of 6 state-of-the-art ventilators, all for about $45,000. An incredibly amazing deal as that amount could easily be the cost of 2 new machines – the vendor was feeling generous as we were a small facility. The owners rejected the deal even after showing the normal cost of a new machine.
Therein also lies one of the problems with for-profit. Maintaining state-of-the-art equipment is lower on the list of priorities.
Still, delivering quality healthcare is a goal as the state continues to investigate patient complaints just as non-profits facilities. It could be that for-profit may be viewed more harshly as they seek profit more than service. It can be a catch-22 for for-profit facilities.
How do you think for-profit healthcare facilities can minimize the stigma that plagues for-profits?