Non-profit hospitals operated by charitable or religious organizations dominate the U.S., followed by local government hospitals and private for-profit hospitals, which accounted for about 62%-20%-18% in 2003. The federal government itself operates a national health care system that is not open to the public, namely the Military Medical System run by the Department of Defense and the Veterans Health Administration, which provides health care to veterans. The Indian Health Service (IHS), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, provides health care only to Indian and Alaska Native people, and also contracts with private health care organizations to provide health care exclusively to them. Although non-profit hospitals for the general public are tax-exempt, they continue to charge high medical fees, especially for uninsured patients, and have been the subject of ethical controversy and lawsuits.
Hospitals provide emergency and outpatient services, but they are primarily for inpatients. Alternative specialty clinics include the "surgicenter," which provides same-day care after surgery without hospitalization, and the hospice, which provides end-of-life care for terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of less than six months.