Global shift of health care systems towards the ambulatory care
Naveen Sharma a
Introduction
The global healthcare landscape is evidently moving towards outpatient and ambulatory care due to technology, patient preferences, and economic factors. According to IMARC Group, the ambulatory services market will be as follows:
| Sr. No. | Particular | Market Size |
| 1 | Market Size in 2024 | $ 4.0 Trillion |
| 2 | Market Forecast in 2033 | $ 6.5 Trillion |
| 3 | Market Growth Rate 2025-2033 | 5.43% |
According to Polaris market research the global ambulatory services market was valued at $2.81 trillion in 2019 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.9% to reach $4.28T in 2026
Methodology
Research Objectives:
- To understand the movement of global health systems towards the outpatient and ambulatory care
- To discuss the possible strategies to meet the need of landscape changes
- To limn the landscape change in health care services in US, Europe and other global health systems
- To describe the possible reasons for the movement
- To understand the future Implications of the movement and discuss future strategies
A structured targeted literature review (TLR) method was employed to find out the relevant information, which were efficiently gathered while focusing on specific research questions. A systematic approach and grey literature search were utilized that included identifying relevant keywords, utilizing controlled vocabulary, and applying Boolean operators to refine search results.
Results
| Change in Landscape: | |
| US scenario: One third of hospital revenue is gradually transitioning to ambulatory surgery centers, office-based laboratories, and other ambulatory sites. Procedures conducted at physician offices and Hospital outpatient departments is anticipated to increase by 13% and 14% respectively over the next decade  Inpatient admissions are expected to drop by 0.9% over 10 years, conversely outpatient care will grow by over 20% | |
| Scenario in Europe: The revenue is projected to grow at a rate of 6.58% CAGR (2025-2029). Germany's telemedicine market is expected to grow at 16% CAGR (2024-2029) | |
| Reasons for the movement: | |
| This shift can be attributed to factors such as patient preferences for seamless and high- quality services, advancements in medical technology, a need for value-based care, payers' pressure for cost-effective solutions, cost control, shared ownership between physicians and healthcare institutions, chronic illness management, and an increasing elderly population | |
Discussion
The following implications can be anticipated in the near future: Increased pressure on primary care and psychotherapy services, shorter wait times, fewer hospital-acquired infections due to reduced hospitalizations, need for more resources, advanced technology, and higher quality in ambulatory settings. Workforce flexibility from other settings to ambulatory settings will be encouraged. Hospitals may employ more physicians and acquire more physician practices to meet revenue targets. Physician- hospital partnerships and several medical specialties, such as endocrinology, will gain prominence
The following strategies can help to combat the above-mentioned implications: Introducing site-neutral payments to lower patient costs and allowing patient freedom, introduction of Enhanced Ambulatory Patient Grouping like specifically designed ambulatory bundling systems, utilizing the tools like Ambulatory Potentially Preventable Complications to reduce potentially preventable complications, use of value-based care reimbursement methodologies in preventive and primary care, targeting the virtual care and home care services, using AI for better risk prediction and reducing hospitalizations
a SOLVENTUM, United States