Writing for Business - A Whatis.com Blog

May 11 2012   11:12AM GMT

Health care or healthcare?



Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
CIO, one word or two, spelling
typing Which is correct?
The ___________ records of UK offenders are now available electronically.
a. health care
b. healthcare

Answer: a, according to both the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. Standards differ, however. Within the health IT industry, the preference is overwhelmingly for spelling it healthcare. And as we’ve seen with the change from Web site to website over the last decade, the modern trend is toward one word. Nevertheless, if you’re required to conform to AP or Chicago style, you’ll have to spell it as health care, at least for now.

Michael Millenson discusses health care vs. healthcare and identifies a tipping point in favor of the latter.

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