Is it "health care" or "healthcare?" We've all seen it spelled both ways.
Here is a quick review of the preferences of a dozen voices in the industry.
"Health Care"
- American Hospital Association
- American Medical Association
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- NCQA
- The Joint Commission
- U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services
"Healthcare"
- American College of Healthcare Executives
- Healthcare Advertising Review
- Healthcare Marketing Report
- Healthcare Strategy Institute
- Modern Healthcare
- Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development
Merriam-Webster and The New York Times use "health care." Hits on Google: "health care" 55.5 million, "healthcare" 12 million. I prefer "healthcare," but use it either way based on the client's culture. Sometimes I also use it hyphenated as a compound adjective, such as "health-care system."
What's your Vote?
Which version does your organization use? I'm adding an informal poll to this blog that will remain open indefinitely. Please take a moment to weigh in. (See right column.)
Later note: "healthcare" won by a large margin.
—Tom DeSanto
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2 comments:
I've been in this business 20 years and have seen it both ways and often use it both ways but lean more towards healthcare, particularly in the market materials that describe the services of our consulting firm.
i use both, and have seen it both ways. But...spellcheck corrects "healthcare," and prefers "health care" so I find myself defaulting to that, in order to avoid red ink! :^)
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