[Solved]There has been an ongoing shift from inpatient to...

Question

SOLUTION FROM OUR HEALTHCARE EXPERT WRITER

Selected Resource:

Kumar, P., & Parthasarathy, R. (2020). Walking out of the hospital: The continued rise of ambulatory care and how to take advantage of it. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/walking-out-of-the-hospital-the-continued-rise-of-ambulatory-care-and-how-to-take-advantage-of-it

Response: Shift from Inpatient to Outpatient Care in the United States.

In their article, Kumar and Parthasarathy (2020) pointed out that the fastest-growing segment in the United States healthcare industry is ambulatory care. With the pressure of the COVID-19 on the healthcare system due to full beds and limited resources, more patients have been receiving outpatient care. However, the report indicated that the trend started long before COVID-19 and is bound to keep going due to factors like convenience, personalized care, and lower costs.

Ambulatory surgical centers are one of the drivers of the change to outpatient care as patients can be released as early as a few hours after surgery. Patients prefer these centers due to their convenience and accessibility in terms of distance and less wait time. In addition, if the patient is released early, then the risk of nosocomial infections is reduced considerably. The early release also makes it possible for patients to complete their recovery in the comfort of their homes, which is preferable for most.

Outpatient centers, whether free-standing or as hospital departments, tend to have less workloads because patients have other places to go. In this case, there is even time for patients to receive personalized care in outpatient care, hence the growth of ambulatory care. Outpatient care is also preferable because it is less costly for both patients and payers due to lower costs in space, staffing, and supplies with similar or even higher margins for healthcare providers.

The contributors to the growth of ambulatory care include innovation and technology, consumer demand, payer pressure, and provider opportunity. There are variations in the speed of growth across providers and regions depending on the value of patient time and cost, value to payers, and resources available to service providers.