Value Based Outpatient Care
The focus of the past 10 years has been on preventing readmissions, and now in the next 10 years, the focus will be on preventing admissions.
That approach shows that value based outpatient care will become the main stream in optimizing patient care and preventing disease progress outside the hospital settings.
The outpatient care model will grow as a result of the combination of the following three important factors: the trend of patients being discharged sooner from the hospital, the aging population, and the advancement of technology.
In the outpatient setting, the continuity of care is important to prevent disease progression and complications. There are three types of outpatient care: primary care, specialty care, and home health care.
Value-based outpatient care is the future. If the business model is focused merely on increasing volume rather than improving health outcomes, coordinating care and cutting waste, you will not succeed under the new paradigm.
In order to optimize patient care, it is important to stay connected with the patient and monitor the progress of the disease with medical imaging as well. That brings us to a new approach in medical imaging by utilizing the ultrasound technology to the consumer level.
The ultrasound technology that can be used by the consumers while they are at home will give the doctors the opportunity to access regular medical images from the patients without needing them back to the hospital.
That way, we can follow the progression of the disease and intervene earlier if necessary. The technology is still in the early stages, but it is important to watch out for its potential in the future.
With the rapid changes in the healthcare landscape, it is important for the providers to be open to new ideas and be proactive in the way they think about patient care. The way we provide care has to be constantly evolving in order to meet the needs of our patients.
