A health assessment is a plan of care that identifies the specific needs of a person and how those needs will be addressed by the healthcare system or skilled nursing facility.
[3] Healthcare providers such as Bupa[4] and Nuffield[5] now routinely offer health assessments to individuals and corporate clients, building on the growing market for these services.
[6] UK healthcare provider Verve Healthcare makes a clear difference:[7] Health assessment has been separated by authors from physical assessment to include the focus on health occurring on a continuum as a fundamental teaching.
[8] In the healthcare industry it is understood health occurs on a continuum, so the term used is assessment but may be preference by the speciality's focus such as nursing, physical therapy, etc.
For example, in the emergency room the focus is chief complaint and how to help that person related to the perceived problem.