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Healthcare providers include doctors, nurses, and alternative medicine practitioners who administer medical care to patients. They may work in various settings, and patients may choose their providers, but insurance providers may limit options.
Healthcare providers are all types of healthcare professionals who directly administer some type of medical care to a patient. In general, a healthcare professional is trained in some type of healthcare role and will work collaboratively with other types of providers to bring health and healing to the people in their care. Healthcare professionals may operate in temporary situations or work within a permanently established healthcare facility.
Perhaps the most cited example of a healthcare professional is the family doctor. This healthcare professional provides routine medical care to patients and deals with any short-term or long-term medical problems experienced by the patient. Even people who never go to the hospital typically see a doctor at least once or twice a year for annual checkups or to seek help with a cold or other minor health problem.
Along with doctors, nurses are also healthcare professionals who are instantly recognized by most people. Nurse practitioners can be classified into various categories such as a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, or nurse practitioner. The classification level helps define the scope or practice in which the nurse may engage and thus sets limits on the types of medical care she may provide to a patient.
Broadly speaking, anyone who administers some kind of health care to a patient can be considered a health care professional. Along with doctors and nurses in the traditional medical tradition, practitioners of alternative medical options also qualify as health care providers. This means that people licensed as homeopathic doctors, chiropractors and sometimes herbalists can rightly be identified as healthcare professionals. Caretakers and childcare workers trained to provide medical care in emergency situations may also be considered health care workers in a limited sense.
Doctors and nurses may work within an office setting or work within a hospital, health clinic, or other type of nursing facility. Patients are sometimes able to choose their health care providers at their own discretion. However, some insurance providers offer programs that pay out full benefits only when the policyholder sees a health care provider who is considered “in-network.” A couple of examples of this type of health coverage are PPO and HMO insurance programs.
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