Healthcare -- Hospital Organization

General Organization of Hospitals

Generally, most modern hospitals maintain an organizational chart with a hospital executive board at the very top, immediately above the hospital administration. Most hospitals maintain distinctly separate service areas that provide the varied functions necessary to run a modern healthcare facility. Specifically, hospital organization typically separates the following four main areas of service: Informational Services, Therapeutic Services, Diagnostic Services, and Support Services.

The Informational Services Department ordinarily administrates Admissions, Billing, Collections, Health Education, Medical Records, Information Systems, and Human Resource functions. The Therapeutic Services Department typically administrates Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Pathology Services, Respiratory Therapy, Medical Psychology, Social Services, Pharmacy Services, Dietary and Sports Medicine Services, and Nursing Services. The Diagnostic Services Department is usually responsible for administrating Medical Laboratories, Diagnostic Imaging, Emergency Medicine, Cardiology, and Neurology. Finally, Support Services generally comprise Central Supply Services, Biomedical Technology, Housekeeping Services, Maintenance, and Transportation Services.

Rationale for Separation of Major Services

The principal rationale for the separation of major service areas within hospitals is simply that a unified administrative structure would involve too many specialty service areas that are completely unrelated from one another. It would be impractical, for example, to expect Cardiac Medicine, Billing Services, Supply, and Maintenance functions to be supervised by the same individuals. In essence, the many services and functions provided by modern hospitals are so different from one another that they are actually completely distinct operations, each with its own organizational substructure and supervisory hierarchy.

The Hierarchical Nature of Hospital Administration

Generally, the various different areas of hospital services and functions all use a hierarchical supervisory structure. Within medical departments, senior attending physicians supervise residents based on professional seniority and experience. The same is true within nursing services. Other non-medical service areas such as administration and billing function much more similarly to general business offices. Usually, they are headed by a director or supervisor who performs the same role as supervisors responsible for administrating general business offices. Finally, departments such as supply and maintenance operate within a hierarchical structure based primarily on specific vocational skills and experience.