Working in the industry we constantly come across people that do not know when to use Health Care versus Healthcare. We thought that we’d take a moment to help everyone out, and explain the common definition and use of each version. Yes, they do have different meanings.
health care (noun)
Definition: a set of actions by a person or persons to maintain or improve the health of a patient/customer
Examples:
- I have developed a plan for my patient’s health care.
- A considerable emphasis on preventive health care by patients and providers will improve health outcomes and quality of life.
Special case: hyphenated adjectival form of “health care”
- Health-care services have become more expensive and innumerable over the last 20 years.
- The health-care needs of the patients in this hospital wing are greater than the needs of the average patient.
healthcare (noun or adjective)
Definition: a system, industry, or field that facilitates the logistics and delivery of health care for patients/consumers
Examples:
- Noun
- I hope to work in the healthcare field one day.
- Healthcare’s number and diversity of providers skyrocketed over the course of the twentieth century.
- Modern healthcare requires both skilled clinicians and perceptive business professionals to be successful and competent.
- Adjective
- The healthcare IT industry has been booming as a result of the strong demand for population analytics and effective electronic health record (EHR) systems.
- Healthcare reform has been a tough but important process to address many of the systematic failures of the healthcare system.
Many former Wall Street professionals are moving into healthcare finance as a result of the industry’s massive growth.
RISC Management and Consulting 