Costs associated with ambulatory care and education

The adoption of an ambulatory care classification system by the Health Care Financing Administration in 1991 may have significant implications for medical education programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ambulatory care setting. Presently there is not adequate methodology in the VA to determine costs in ambulatory care and education. (Experience with the VA allocation model suggests that selected characteristics of reimbursement systems are incompatible with educational goals.) Barriers that inhibit the cost-effective delivery of ambulatory care in many VA hospitals must be eliminated so that effective patient care and training care can take place. These barriers include inadequacies of information systems, physical layouts, and staffing. Despite the perception that outpatient care is less costly than inpatient care, the transition from an inpatient-based education model to an ambulatory care model will require an infusion of resources to improve the ambulatory care environment in the VA.