As early as the 1990’s, outpatient care only made up for 10 to 15% of a hospital’s total profits, compared to inpatient care. Since the start of the twenty-first century, this figure has increased to approximately 60%. This shift in healthcare has been occurring in different medical organizations such as university medical centers, local hospitals, for-profit chains, and not-for-profit suppliers. The increase in outpatient services compared to inpatient has been showing no indication of slowing down. The main reason for the development in outpatient care is because of all the medical advancements in techniques and technology that allow for patients to be treated less invasively. Health care organizations are now being compensated in a way that puts emphasis on both the quality and the total care of the patient. Even though these organizations are achieving exceptional ambulatory performance in a manner that improves health and patient experience, cost is vital to future health system success. One important aspect to consider is determining how effective and safe ambulatory clinics are in relation to inpatient clinics. The delivery of ambulatory services covers a wide range of health care services that are provided for patients who are not admitted overnight to a hospital. Ambulatory care is an institution with managed medical personnel, stable facilities and medical services that are able to diagnosis and treat patients who have an array of medical problems and do not presently need inpatient care. Over the past decade, ambulatory care’s volume and difficulty of interventions have increased. More familiar ambulatory care facilities, such as hospital outpatient departments and community health centers, have expanded to incl... ... middle of paper ... ...-finance/2012/03/08/can-ambulatory-care-fix-our-costly-healthy-care-system/ Parchman, M. L. (1999). Preventable Hospitalizations in Primary Care Shortage Areas: An Analysis of Vulnerable Medicare Beneficiaries. Archives of Family Medicine, 8(6), 487-491. Roos, L. L., Walld, R., Uhanova, J., & Bond, R. (2005). Physician Visits, Hospitalizations, and Socioeconomic Status: Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions in a Canadian Setting. Health Services Research, 40(4), 1167-1185. Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2013). Essentials of the U.S. health care system (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Williams, S. J., & Torrens, P. R. (2008). Introduction to health services (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. Your Medicare Coverage. (2014, March 21). Inpatient hospital care. Retrieved from http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/inpatient-hospital-care.html
According to Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young, the authors of our textbook Health Care USA, medical care in the United States is a $2.5 Trillion industry (xvii). This industry is so large that “the U.S. health care system is the world’s eighth
The challenges that all acute care hospitals and facilities faces are the demand for highly specialized services has increased. The US population is constantly aging and the elderly tend to need more acute care services. Because many people lack health insurance, they tend to use emergency rooms in the hospitals as their source of care. The increase demand in acute care prompted hospitals to expand their facility
The Crowded Clinic: Critical Analysis The Crowded Clinic Case Study (Colorado State University - Global, n.d.) discusses the issues of practice management as they apply to access to care. Access to care may be as inconvenient as lengthy patient wait times to issues far more serious that may have a profound effect on the health and well-being of a single patient or an entire cohort. In order to properly address the issue and look for a remedy, it is necessary to understand the underlying conditions that create the problem before creating the means to manage the change required to correct the problem. The Crowded Clinic has multiple issues, including social and operational, which are creating the associated inaccessibility to services.
There has been a shortage of physicians, lack of inpatient beds, problems with ambulatory services, as well as not having proper methods of dealing with patient overflow, all in the past 10 years (Cummings & francescutti, 2006, p.101). The area of concern that have been worse...
The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective - DPEAFLCIO. (2014). Retrieved June 04, 2016, from http://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-fact-sheets/the-u-s-health-care-system-an-international-perspective/
McGlynn, E, Asch, S, Adams, J, Keesey, J, & Hicks, J. (2003). The quality of health care delivered to adults in the united states. The New England Journal of Medicine, 248(26), 2635-2645.
It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
..., M., Thomas, E., Smolowitz, J., & Honig, J. (2007, Dec 07). Essential health care: affordable for all?. Retrieved from www.cinahl.com/cgi-bin/refsvc?jid=374&accno=2004209136
In consequence, this will limit poor adults finding the proper treatment since many doctors do not accept Medicaid patients. High rates of uninsured populations were associated with lower primary care capacity (Ku et al., 2011). Thus, expanding insurance coverage can support more primary care practices in rural areas and can help equal the gap in primary care positions. The impact of not expanding affects APRN practice by limiting them to practice in areas where they are needed the most. This not only affects APRNs from practicing without a physician supervision but also limit those that need coverage for basic preventive measures to reduce non-paying visits to the emergency room. Ensuring access to care will be contingent upon the ability to attain progress from insurance coverage and primary
Primary health care is the essential step to the Canadian health system. It is often associated with other specialized health care sectors, and community services. Many patients visit various services under primary health care such as family doctors' offices, mental health facilities, nurse practitioners' offices; they make phone calls to health information lines, for example, Tele-health; and receive suggestions from physicians and pharmacists (First Ministers; meeting on healthcare, n.d.). This service can prevent patients from visiting the emergency department, when all that is required is some guidance and advice. Having primary care services can reduce the consumption of acute beds, where only seriously ill patients can use the acute beds when it is available. Primary care not only deals with sickness care, but it helps patients receive preventable measures; it promotes healthy choices (Primary health care, n.d.). The focus on appropriate health care services, when and where they are needed, enhanced the ability of individuals to access primary care in various settings: at home, in a hospital or any number of family health care venues, such as Family Health Teams (FHTs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), or Nurse Practitioner- led clinics. This paper will look at the litigious heated argument in the Romanow Report concerning primary care. It will begin with a discussion of the outcome of the Accord on Health Care Renewal (2003) and The First Ministers' Meeting on the Future of Health in Canada (2004), both referring to primary care, which will then be followed with an assessment and analysis of the different ways in which the accords have been addressed in support of primary care. Followed by a discussion about the changes on ...
Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) (2011) Third next available appointment, Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Topics/OfficePractices/Access/Measures/Third+Next+Available+Appointment.htm
Barton, P.L. (2010). Understanding the U.S. health services system. (4th ed). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Edwards, N. C., Etowa, J., Peterson, W. E., & Kennedy, M. A. (2012). Community health
There are many types of health facilities in the state of Alabama such as community health centers, ambulatory care, and patient-centered medical home. The community health centers are non-profit medical facilities targeted towards every age-group whether they have insurance coverage or don't have insurance coverage. The main focus of the community health center is the health and wellness of the patients, without any limitations as per the medical condition (Caldas de Almeida, 2015). In contrast, also defined as outpatient care, the ambulatory care can be described as the medical care that is provided on an outpatient basis such as observation, diagnosis, consultation, intervention, treatment
[1] Selected patient and provider characteristics for ambulatory care visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments: United States, 2009-2010