Healthcare Services and Healthcare

¶ … Role of Public-Private Partnerships in Healthcare

Public-private partnerships in healthcare have emerged as a useful framework in recent years in which to provide high quality healthcare services, especially to vulnerable populations. By drawing on the wide range of resources that are available in the community, government healthcare organizations can improve both the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. For instance, according to Cook (2009), "Public-private partnerships involving governments, foundations, private companies, and non-governmental organizations have proven to be valuable allies in fighting the infectious diseases and epidemics that ravage the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities" (p. 2). In addition, public-private partnerships in healthcare can provide a synergistic effect wherein the overall effects of each constituent partner are enhanced to the benefit of healthcare recipients (Bedi, 2007).

Provide an example of a public-private partnership that impacts health or care in your community or practice specialization

Each year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sponsors a series of nationwide "veteran stand downs" that coordinate services VA services with private sector providers to provide at-risk and homeless veterans with a wide array of healthcare services that they might not otherwise receive. At these annual events, veterans are provided with a wide array of free social services including employment assistance, free clothing, hot food, haircuts and healthcare and dental services which are provided by local, state and federal governmental agencies as well as private sector organizations (Keown, 2010). In addition, homeless veterans are also provided with temporary and permanent shelter when necessary (Keown, 2010). The combination of the types of social services that are offered at these annual events depends on their availability in the community as well as the types of services that are deemed needed most by military veterans at the time (Keown, 2010).

What are the risks of a public-private partnership?

The World Bank cites a number of risks that are associated with pubic-private partnerships, including most especially the following:

• Some projects may be more politically or socially challenging to introduce and implement than others;

• Government responsibility continues and citizens will continue to hold government accountable for the quality of services; and, • The private sector will do what it is paid to do and no more than that (Benefits and risks of PPPs, 2016).