What is the relevance of an Encyclopedia of Health Care Management? Why do patients, physicians, other providers, employees of health care providers, students of health care, and consumers of health care insurance need to understand the business and management issues in the health care industry?

When the health care industry was stable in the 1980s, there was little need for such knowledge. Now that health care has become one of the largest and most dramatically changing industries in the United States, the need to understand the changes has grown exponentially. As the baby boom generation ages; as new, expensive health care technology emerges; as new pharmaceutical products become available, there are huge increases in the demand for health care services. Indeed, there are forecasts from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington that total expenditures on health care services will surpass $2 Trillion in 2007 and account for 17% of Gross Domestic Product. This is a strong growth from $1 Trillion and 14% of GDP in 1996. We are spending more on health care in total dollars and more as a percentage of the total economy.

Along with the growth in health care expenditures, the government is assuming a greater role. Compliments of growth in Medicare and Medicaid to deliver health care services to elderly and poor patients, respectively, almost 50% of the above health care expenditures were controlled by federal and state governments as of this writing in 2003. Then, the U.S. Congress was debating prescription drug coverage in Medicare with estimates of the various plans adding between $400 million and $1 Trillion to the preceding share of health care expenditures passing through government hands.

Compliments of the growth of the Internet, patients and consumers were able to research health care topics during the process of choosing health care insurance coverage and receiving care. This empowerment helped consumers and patients to be more demanding about the value received for health care purchases.

As of this writing, new advances were being made to increase the quality of delivered health care services. The power of information systems was being implemented among health care providers, including hospitals, to reduce errors and control costs.

These changes were occurring so rapidly in 2003 that patients, physicians, other providers, employees of health care providers, students of health care, and consumers of health insurance could no longer sit back and assume stability. This Encyclopedia of Health Care Management is intended to help them understand the business and management issues in the health care industry.

Given such a large industry with so many different issues, there are about 600 keywords defined in this volume. The keywords are classified into 16 general categories. Please see the Reader's Guide for the categories and the keywords. Additionally, there are tables on medical degrees, medical specialties, medical organizations, medical legislation, and health care acronyms to facilitate understanding of the business and management issues in the health care industry.

Please feel free to e-mail me at mstahl@utk.edu with your comments on this Encyclopedia of Health Care Management.