Thanks to the popularity of urgent care clinics and other non-hospital-based ambulatory care providers, the year-over-year growth in the number of hospital outpatient visits has been on the decline for decades. But now, for the first time since 1983, outpatient visits fell below the previous year among more than 6,000 hospitals surveyed by the American Hospital Association (AHA). The decline, according to the AHA, is primarily due to decreasing visits to hospital emergency rooms. The AHA released the findings in its “2020 Hospital Statistics Report.” The AHA surveyed 6,146 hospitals located throughout the nation. In 2017, those hospitals recorded a total of 880.5 million outpatient visits. In 2018, those same hospitals delivered 879.6 million outpatient visits, a reduction of 0.09% over the previous year.
Read the full article: Outpatient Visits to Hospitals Decline Year-to-Year for First Time in 35 Years //
Source: https://www.darkdaily.com/outpatient-visits-to-hospitals-decline-year-to-year-for-first-time-in-35-years-affecting-clinical-laboratories-and-other-in-hospital-services