A recent outpatient statistical snapshot from Avanza Healthcare Strategies offers hard data on the industry's shift from inpatient to outpatient care.
For the snapshot, Avanza used an array of sources, including Advancing Surgical Care, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, the American Hospital Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Moody's Investors Service, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the CDC.
Here are five findings:
1. The number of Medicare-certified ASCs nearly doubled between 2000 and 2017, from 3,028 to 5,634. At the same time, the number of hospitals decreased from 6,933 in 1981 to 5,534 in 2016.
2. Community hospital outpatient revenue is now closer to inpatient revenue, according to the Avanza snapshot. Twenty-eight percent of community hospital revenue was tied to outpatient care in 1994, compared to 72 percent for inpatient. In 2014, outpatient revenue and inpatient revenue were 48 percent and 54 percent, respectively.
3. From 2010 to 2015, the share of outpatient hospital revenue grew from 21 percent to 60 percent.
4. Total community hospital outpatient visits grew from 383 million in 1994 to 693 million in 2014.
5. Total Medicare outpatient fee-for-service payments to hospitals grew by $29 billion from 2006 to 2015.
Read more about the findings here.
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