Private hospital

A private hospital is a hospital owned by a for-profit company or a non-profit organization and privately funded through payment for medical services by patients themselves, by insurers, Governments through national health insurance programs, or by foreign embassies. This is normal in the United States, Chile, France, Germany, and Australia.

In the United Kingdom, private hospitals are distinguished from the far more prevalent National Health Service institutions. In 1979 there were about 4,000 beds in private hospitals