Services in ambulatory settings may grow

Q: Some hospitals in urban and rural areas have closed, and others have merged. How can care providers outside hospitals expand their practices to fill the gap?

A: Mergers and closures may reflect excess capacity in a community or a patient mix that includes too high of a proportion of uncompensated care.

No matter what the reason for hospital closures, trends suggest that growth in patient care over the next decade is likely to be in non-hospital or ambulatory settings.

Answer provided by Marisa Manley, JD, Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, New York, New York. Send your practice management questions to [email protected] Also engage at http://www.twitter.com/MedEconomics and http://www.facebook.com/MedicalEconomics.