Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Health Care Settings The Places Where Care is Delivered
Lecture:Range of care
Continuum of care
Slide content:Tertiary Care Center A tertiary care center is a medical facility that receives referrals from both primary and secondary care levels and usually offers tests, treatments, and procedures that are not available elsewhere. Most tertiary care centers offer a mixture of primary, secondary, and tertiary care services so that it is the specific level of service rendered rather than the facility that determines the designation of care in a given study (Kane, 2011) 9
Slide notes:Tertiary care centers provide care that is not available at other health care organizations. In many cases, a new procedure is perfected in only a few organizations, and that is the only place the procedure can be obtained. Examples include complex facial reconstruction, many types of organ transplants, or specialized burn care. This quote also makes a point that bears repeating: Many organizations provide multiple levels of care. Large, integrated delivery systems or academic hospital systems are sometimes referred to as tertiary care centers because of the highly skilled patient care services they provide and the highly skilled clinicians and physicians who practice in such hospitals. 9