The Outpatient Setting and the Affordable Care Act

Health Care Delivery System
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Health Care Delivery System
Factors that have led to care being offered out of the hospital setting.
Healthcare delivery system is no longer confined to hospital settings in United States. At present, due to advancements in technology, a large number of the inpatient procedures can be performed externally. There are several factors that have allowed the healthcare providers to offer services external to hospital settings such as increase in the supply of ambulatory surgery centers that have successfully attracted a large group of people. Furthermore, rapidly growing population has stimulated the need of provision of healthcare services external to the hospital settings. A significant portion of this growing population consists of elderly people since this group of people prefer going to nearby clinics or laboratories instead of hospitals. In the viewpoint of Sanchez, (2016), changes in the preferences of the consumers has also turned out to be a key factor in the growth of outpatient care. According to the statistics, majority of the patients prefer outpatient care in contrast to inpatient care for the reason they find the system more structured as well as convenient.
The advantages and disadvantages of outpatient setting
The main benefit of outpatient care is its structure that allows the patients to continue with the daily routine while still following the treatment process. In other words, outpatient care presents the opportunity to the people to complete their daily task as well as attend the treatment which is not possible in inpatient care within the hospital setting. Outpatient care apart from being convenient is affordable in contrast to inpatient setting. In fact, majority of the insurance services encompass this form of hea...