Employee health and costs of providing health care are of universal concern. The closer an organization is to the provision of health services, the more intense and critical the interest in health policy becomes.
Health care is one of the largest economic sectors in the United States.
In the St. Louis region, health care is the largest source of employment. The BJC, Unity, SSM, and Tenet health systems each rank among the fourteen largest regional employers. Health care is expected to continue to be one of the major sources of employment in the United States for the foreseeable future. All health care employers are intensely interested in health policy. Policy influences the welfare of the populations they serve as well as the ability of their patients to pay for services.