SCLHealth Microhospital

In the hospital industry, inpatient admissions are dropping and outpatient numbers are rising. This is partly due to dramatic innovations in surgery—e.g. VATS, NOTES and other minimally invasive techniques—leading to the conclusion that any procedure which can be performed on an outpatient basis will be done that way. One trend in that direction, as this piece describes, is the microhospital, which nearly resembles the way most hospitals conducted their business a century ago. They offer full services, but only a few inpatient beds (the main factor which drives costs). Generations ago, physician home visits, visiting nurses and midwives offered some degree of hospital care at home. Now, telemedicine can offer some home services, though this mode is still struggling with payers. It does look, however, that the day of the large “community” general hospital—an artifact of post-World War II national health policies—is beginning to sunset. MORE

Image Credit: SCL Health Community Hospital-Westminster in Colorado and MedCityNews.com