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HEALTH SYSTEM APPLICATIONS

36.1 Industry Overview

NAICS code: all 62000s

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

704,526 health-care operations in the United States
15,052,255 employees
$1,207.3 billion in annual sales
1.1 tons of solid waste generation per employee
Major waste streams: paper, biohazard, food waste, and plastics

Combining medical technology and the human touch, the health-care industry admin-
isters care around the clock, responding to the needs of millions of people—from
newborns to the critically ill. About 580,000 establishments make up the health-care
industry; they vary greatly in terms of size, staffing patterns, and organizational
structures. Nearly 77 percent of health-care establishments are offices of physicians,
dentists, or other health practitioners. Although hospitals constitute only 1 percent of
all health-care establishments, they employ 35 percent of all workers.
The health-care industry consists of the following nine segments:

1 Hospitals—Hospitals provide complete medical care, ranging from diagnostic
services, to surgery, to continuous nursing care. Some hospitals specialize in treat-
ment of the mentally ill, cancer patients, or children. Hospital-based care may be
provided on an inpatient (overnight) or outpatient basis. The mix of workers needed
varies, depending on the size, geographic location, goals, philosophy, funding, organ-
ization, and management style of the institution. As hospitals work to improve
efficiency, care continues to shift from an inpatient to outpatient basis whenever

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