Medical care involving a visit to a specialist, primary care.<\/p>\n
Services provided by medical specialists who generally do not have first contact with patients (e.g., cardiologists, urologists, dermatologists). In the United States, however, there has been a trend toward self-referral by patients themselves for these services, rather than referral by primary care providers. This route is quite different from the path usually followed in England, for example, where all patients first seek care from primary care providers and are then referred to secondary and or tertiary providers, as needed.<\/p>\n
Specialized care provided by a physician or hospital, usually on referral from a primary care physician.<\/p>\n
Health care provided by medical specialists or hospital staff members for a patient whose primary care was provided by the doctor who first diagnosed or treated the patient. For example, a general practitioner who accepts a patient with an unusual skin condition provides primary care but if he refers the patient to a dermatologist, the skin specialist becomes the source of secondary care.<\/p>\n
Medical services administered by specialized physicians and other healthcare practitioners (such as physical therapists, respiratory therapists, etc.) who typically do not engage in the initial patient contact. Secondary care encompasses acute care delivered within hospital emergency departments as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Medical care involving a visit to a specialist, primary care. Services provided by medical specialists who generally do not have first contact with patients (e.g., cardiologists, urologists, dermatologists). In the United States, however, there has been a trend toward self-referral by patients themselves for these services, rather than referral by primary care providers. This route […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-s"],"yoast_head":"\n