High Hospital Prices Help Drive Outpatient Services to Other Facilities

Outpatient surgery isn’t the only medical service moving away from hospitals to other facilities: Minor radiology, lab work and physical medicine are also part of the trend, according to the Workers Compensation Research Institute. In fact, from 2011 to 2016, the percentage of claims that included outpatient hospital care dropped in 17 of 18 states WCRI studied, with percentage-point decreases ranging from 12.6 in Georgia to 1.4 in Iowa. Only Wisconsin saw an uptick in the percentage of claims with hospital outpatient services, a 3.3 percentage-point increa...