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Choosing Better Medical Care

Outpatient Care Is About More Than Money

18 December 2017

Chris Burke

The trend toward shuffling people into outpatient care is often seen as a money-saving tactic for insurance companies, and sometimes it can be. But for the most part, there are valid medical reasons for having you stick to an outpatient care center as much as possible. Not only does it save you some cash after the coinsurance amount is billed, but it also helps you recover, stay safe, and take advantage of better treatments.

Comfort and Recovery

Which setting makes you feel more comfortable: a hospital bed or your own bed? For most people, the answer is their own bed, and familiar surroundings that aren't punctuated by calls for medical code emergencies and cleaning fluid smells are best for recovering well. Of course, if you need a lot of help because of whatever is going on with your health, a hospital may be the safer place for you to be. But if you can manage on your own while you recover, your home is going to be the most comfortable place for you to stay.

MRSA and Other Hospital-Acquired Infections

A sad truth about modern hospitals is that hospital-acquired infections like MRSA do exist. Getting you out of the hospital quickly, or ensuring you don't have to be in the hospital at all, help prevent the spread of nasty bugs that could make you feel worse or that could make your family ill. Hospitals are doing their best to contain these problems, and keeping people out whenever possible by having them use outpatient care services is one strategy among many.

Advances in Technology and Medicine

A very good reason why you are being asked to use outpatient services more and more is simply that medicine and technology have advanced greatly. Doctors have more tools to use when helping you heal, and many of these allow you to stick with outpatient care and then go home. Sometimes there's just no reason for you to need inpatient care now for something that might have required it decades ago. What might have needed surgery with a couple of days in the hospital when you were a child, for example, could now need an office procedure. Even some hospital-based surgeries are now treated as outpatient, with you spending some time in the recovery room and then heading home because that's all the care you need.

Always start with outpatient care unless the problem is obviously something that needs a hospital evaluation, such as an emergency room visit. Outpatient centers provide up-to-date health care that you can work with.

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