In the recent years, the health care field has recorded a significant increase in the number of investor-owned hospitals. Healthcare organizations are usually structured in different ways depending on various state laws. Although the for–profit hospitals are fundamentally similar to the non-profit corporations, there are substantial cultural and operational differences, such as the operation discipline and strategic approaches and measures. However, both types of hospitals are similar in the way that they both hire physicians and nurses to serve patients. In addition, they both operate in tightly regulated frameworks for clinical services ( Horwitz, 2005) .
For-profit hospitals mainly offer profitable medical services, thus they are usually more responsive to changes in service profitability then the nonprofit corporations, which means that they usually decide the type of medical services they will offer based on the profitability of that service. In addition, they usually manage their patient mix more carefully when compared to the nonprofit hospitals. For instance, they are usually located in areas with comparatively well insured patients. On the other hand, non-profit health corporations usually treat patients with a mix of needs, and have contracts with the same insurers. They can be categorized into three corporate structures.The first one is the Public Benefits Corporations, which is are nonprofit hospitals incorporated under state laws as public benefits corporations that usually operate for charitable and public purposes; hence, they are usually exempted from paying federal income taxes. The second corporate structure is the Hospital, Health, and Medical Service Corporations, which are special categories of insurance companies known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. These health services can perform both tasks of being a public benefit corporation and at the same time be an insurance company. Most of these are usually governed by a state general profit corporation law. The third corporate structure is the Mutual Benefits Corporations, which is dedicated to serving a particular class of individuals. This means that it is owned by that class of individuals ( Horwitz, 2005) .
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Other differences between the two corporations include of tax status, operational discipline, and financial pressure ( Horwitz, 2005) . Tax status is usually the most obvious difference between nonprofit and for-profit corporations. This usually has a considerable financial impact on the hospitals and the societies they serve. Taxes paid by for-profit hospitals are usually used to support local community schools, develop roads and recruiting business and industries. The for-profit hospitals usually pay sales taxes and property taxes that are not charged in nonprofit corporations; hence, explaining why for-profit companies usually emphasize oncost consciousness while non-profit corporations do not. Further, theoperational discipline between the two corporations greatly varies since for-profit corporations have been said to be accountable, and responsible in terms of hygiene when compared to the nonprofit corporations. For-profit corporations have a higher operational cost thus; they have to maintain high standards of cleanliness and hygiene and provide quality services to patients in order to maintain and attract more customers unlike the nonprofit hospitals ( Horwitz, 2005) . Further, they provide specific services, for instance it is common to find for-profit corporations conducting open-heart surgery since it is a profitable service while the nonprofit organizations offer all types of services ranging from low cost services to rare cases of high cost services. Finally, the financial pressure is different for both corporations, which is evident since for-profit health organizations maintain a high financial performance unlike their counterparts the non-profit organizations. Workers are paid differently since nurses in for-profit hospitals are paid highly unlike workers in nonprofit health systems. Hence, finance members in for-profit organizations are compelled to push themselves to meet the performance goals.
In conclusion, for-profit corporations usually face many advantages than nonprofit health organizations. One is that they usually enjoy high profits when compared to non-profit corporations. In addition, the offer high quality services hence attract a wide range of patients. However, they face many challenges. For instance, according to the American Hospital Association, for-profit industry has become so flooded recording an increase in such facilities and this could to a reduction in profits in the future. Moreover, they face high tax charges unlike nonprofit organizations that are not charged taxes. The advantages of nonprofit organizations are that they are exempted from taxes; hence, all earnings are usually used to improve the facilities. They also receive donations from individuals and corporations. However, the major challenge they face is that they receive low profit incomes and experience major public scrutiny on how they handle their expenses.
References
Horwitz, J. R. (2005). Making Profits And Providing Care: Comparing Nonprofit, For-Profit, And Government Hospitals. HEALTH AFFAIRS.
