1800 State medical boards State medical boards license, discipline, and regulate physicians and other health care professionals to protect the public (Truex, 2014). 1850 First health insurance policy The Franklin Health Assurance Company of Massachusetts was the first commercial insurance company in the U.S. to provide private health care coverage benefits for injuries not resulting in death (Scofea, 1994). 1862 U.S. Army Medical Department and the United States Sanitary Commission formed Post-Civil War, new health-related agencies, hospitals, and medical research and care implemented to care for the post-Civil War injured and increase population health awareness (Reilly, 2016). 1886 U.S. Army established the Hospital Corps The first U.S. data repository to collect medical data. This was implemented by the Surgeon General’s Office and the Library of the Surgeon General (Weedn, 2020). 1900 Self-pay is the primary source of payment for healthcare services Most Americans continued to pay their own health care expenses, which often meant either uncompensated charity care or no care. Hospitals were voluntary institutions that were privately supported (University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, n.d.). 1908 Workers’ compensation legislation President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation to provide workers’ compensation (WC) for certain federal employees in unusually hazardous jobs (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). 1921 -1976 Indian Health Services (IHS) The Snyder Act of 1921 and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) of 1976 created the legislative authority for Congress to provide funding to Native Americans for health care services, which is now known as the Indian Health Services (IHS) (Warne & Frizzell, 2014).
