Hello class, Today I would like to discuss with you about what secondary care is and why it is important in the healthcare setting. In just about every health care system, region, or nation; each system is made up of numerous amounts of different providers and healthcare members. Through this, each member has their own responsibilities of services and specialties they provide to their patient. With this, each member will typically represent different levels of care in which are often arranged into four main categories including: primary care, secondary care, tertiary care, and quaternary care. When focusing on secondary care, it is important to first understand what it includes. Following primary care, secondary care is the next stage of care provided to patients by specialists who do not typically have the first contact with their patients. In other words, this care is often implemented when the patients condition requires specialized treatment and monitoring that is outside of the scope primary care can provide to the patient. Through this, patients will often meet with multi-professional teams such as nurse professionals, professions related to medicine, and imaging specialists. In addition, patients will commonly meet with specialists such as surgeons, physicians, psychiatrists, or even pediatricians in order to treat their condition. Common examples of where this would be seen include areas such as inpatient and outpatient care, surgeries, conditions relating to cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, and so much more. One big concern related to patients who receive secondary care is the payment, however many factors and services have been put into effect in order to aid financial takings. Most commonly, secondary care is paid for through insurances like government health insurance systems, private health insurance systems, and in some cases, paid out of pocket for by the patient. depending on the type of hospital, financial services may be funded as for government ran hospitals, this is provided through the development of budgets based on departmental line item costs or grants. This allows patients to be given adequate care without the stressors of financial costs discouraging them. Thank you, Wolfe