Several reasons contribute to the increase in outpatients services. One of these reasons is an improvement of medical technology. This development implies that diagnosis of diseases is faster, meaning patients are unlikely to spend time as inpatients while awaiting a diagnosis. Additionally, changes in social factors suggest that patients will distaste staying at hospitals as they choose to recuperate in their homes. Moreover, new developments where physicians prefer to engage in own practice means that patients will seek their services as outpatients instead of visiting bigger hospitals as inpatients. Lastly, the Medicare incentive that aims at reimbursing the costs incurred in the handling of outpatients is proving to be lucrative to hospitals (Hafsteinsdóttir & Siciliani, 2012). Health centers are striving to minimize inpatient stays.

By Professor Henry 3 years ago . Marked as helpful (477). Marked as unhelpful (507)