Healthcare and health care are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Understanding their differences can help us better communicate about the industry, and avoid misunderstandings.

First, healthcare is a closed compound word that refers to a system, institution, or business providing medical services. This term is more broader than health care, which only refers to individuals or groups that provide medical services.

Definition

Health care is the process of improving the physical or mental well-being of a person. This includes the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease, injury, and other conditions.

Healthcare can be delivered by physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, midwives, optometrists, psychologists, occupational therapists and athletic trainers. In addition, healthcare is often the work of allied health professionals such as audiologists and physiotherapists.

Countries vary in how they approach healthcare systems. Some have strong government control of healthcare, while others emphasize equal access to healthcare.

In both cases, the goal is to provide all citizens with affordable and effective care. However, there are differences in how governments define the term “access.”

In some countries, healthcare providers are salaried government employees with a single set of benefits and services. In other countries, healthcare is largely privately funded and administered.

Spelling

The English language is a funny thing: it has multiple spelling variants, depending on the part of speech. For example, healthcare has a different spelling for USA, UK, and Canada.

While this is a good thing for consistency in the writing world, it can be a challenge to keep track of which one to use when. When it comes to the term health care or healthcare, this is especially true when writing about a medical topic.

A reputable stylebook such as The Associated Press will spell the two-word form of health care, and the most authoritative dictionaries, like Merriam-Webster and Oxford English, agree. It seems that this is a trend that is on its way to becoming standard across the English-speaking world.

Usage

Health care refers to the efforts made by trained and licensed professionals to maintain or restore physical, mental, or emotional well-being. It includes both day-to-day services and the larger system or business that enables them to be delivered.

Healthcare consists of a wide variety of services, including diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. It also encompasses issues related to access, expenditures, and resources, such as health care workers and facilities.

The extent and form of a healthcare system is often influenced by a country’s culture and history, and its values and traditions. These vary from country to country, and from population to population.

Ideally, utilization of healthcare services reflects a need for care. However, a number of factors, such as poverty and its correlates, geographic area of residence, race and ethnicity, sex, age, language spoken, and disability status, are associated with differences in utilization.

Examples

Healthcare is a term that is commonly used to refer to the medical services that are offered at hospitals and clinics. However, healthcare also includes a range of other activities and services that contribute to people’s overall health and well-being.

Healthcare facilities can be anything from a physician’s private practice to a large hospital with many specialty clinics and facilities. For example, a dental clinic can investigate a toothache or a physical therapy clinic can treat an injury.

Another type of healthcare is secondary health care, which is provided by specialists such as a gynaecologist or a dermatologist. This kind of healthcare is often provided in a hospital or clinic but can also be performed remotely through telehealth.

In many countries, there are different models for how healthcare is funded and delivered. These include the Beveridge model, which involves government funding for healthcare and private healthcare facilities; and the Bismarck model, which is similar to the Beveridge model but where healthcare is provided primarily by private companies.