Trends and initiatives in hospital ambulatory care

Changes in the financing and delivery of hospital ambulatory care are discussed. Ambulatory care encompasses a wide spectrum of clinical services provided to patients who are not confined overnight to an institutional bed as inpatients. There are a large and growing number of ways hospitals and physicians cooperate to provide ambulatory-care services. Technological advancements, which have spurred changes in other sectors of medicine, have also changed patterns of medical practice in ambulatory care. Some of the reasons why hospitals develop and expand ambulatory-care programs relate to the changing demand for health services, the shifting preferences of third-party payers and regulators, competitive influences, diversification of risk, and use of such programs as feeders for inpatient services and as teaching and research settings. Although outpatient revenues are a small portion of total hospital revenues, they are growing more rapidly than inpatient revenues. Changes in the health industry that offer opportunities to hospitals are described, such as the increasing physician supply and the formation of group practices, the climate of cost consciousness and price competition, and the trend toward new corporate structures for hospitals. These changes portend changes for hospital pharmacists and give them the opportunity to increase their clinical roles in providing ambulatory care.