Final answer:
The 1917 Oregon Hospital Association Act allowed for the creation of hospital associations, strengthening the healthcare infrastructure by group management and financing of hospitals. It was part of a larger movement to improve healthcare, which included federal legislation like the Hill Burton Act and efforts by the Freedmen's Bureau and African American physicians to create their own hospitals.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 1917, Oregon passed the Hospital Association Act which permitted the creation of hospital associations, essentially allowing for the formation of groups that could better manage and finance hospitals.
This move was part of a broader effort to improve medical infrastructure and healthcare in the United States, which was characterized by the subsequent establishment and recommendation of organizations and legislation aimed at expanding and enhancing hospital care.
This initiative preceded other significant healthcare legislation like the Hospital Survey and Construction Act of 1946, also known as the Hill Burton Act which encouraged further federal involvement in hospital development and the Freedmen's Bureau which set up targeted hospitals post-Civil War.
However, despite these advancements, there were prevailing issues of segregation and inequality in healthcare provision that lasted until well after the mid-20th century. The separate but equal doctrine, for example, was enforced in hospitals until it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1963.
African American physicians, facing discrimination, took a different route by establishing their own institutions like the Provident Hospital in Chicago, which held several distinctions including having an interracial staff and being the first to train Black nurses.