The Future of Ambulatory Health Services: The Healthy Home

June 22, 2010 · Leave a comment

Industry Insights from Paul Meade, M. Sc, MPH

Ambulatory care is the basic building block of primary healthcare in the United States. From its early origins of a family physician visiting sick patients in their homes to sophisticated group practices that offer secondary and even tertiary care, ambulatory care has evolved to a point where it competes with institutionalized care. However, not to be outdone, larger institutions have encroached the playing field of ambulatory care. Thus, the U.S. healthcare delivery system has gradually dissolved the clear demarcation between ambulatory care and institutional care. So where is this all heading?

There is one more geographical migration of primary healthcare that I believe will occur over the next few decades. But before I present this new frontier for primary care, let me highlight some of the developments that are occurring, and will continue to take place, within the healthcare delivery system that will accelerate this new migration. Information technology is finally changing the landscape of healthcare. Better technology to manage an explosion of new medical knowledge, making this information available anywhere and anytime, is enhancing our ability to manage the health of the nation. With the impetus from managed care to make people more fiscally and clinically accountable for their health and wellness, the average person has become much more aware of his or ... read more »

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