Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
Chapter One
Food Service Industry:
An Overview
Health care is being met with increased public awareness associated with the
cost of, and equal access to, high-quality care. The percentage of the national
budget spent on health care is still rising at an alarming rate and will require
persistent emphasis on cost-effective management. Past cost-control efforts
include rightsizing the workforce by staff reductions, flattening management
levels, using multidepartment management, heightening productivity, and
participating in purchasing groups. Changes occurring within health care are
affected by the economy and by business and industry trends. In addition to
their effect on health care cost, these trends will affect methods of operation,
especially as those methods relate to quality, customer satisfaction,
and management style.
Hospitals of the future will experience increases in patient age and acuity
level and a continued population shift from inpatients to outpatients. Responses
to these changes have caused hospitals to add extended-care services such as
rehab ... read full excerpt from Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions ebook
