Outpatient care is transforming the way health systems deliver care by providing patients with faster, safer, and more affordable experiences, while helping hospitals and physicians adapt to a changing healthcare landscape. In this AHA Innovators Connection podcast, recorded live at the 2025 AHA Leadership Summit, Derrick Idbeis (Chief Commercial Officer, MedHQ) and Wes Battiste (Senior Advisor, Avanza Healthcare Strategies) share how outpatient strategies are reshaping healthcare delivery.
🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode or keep reading for the highlights.
Key Insights
Shifting Site of Care: Growth comes not from more procedures, but from moving them from inpatient to outpatient settings such as ASCs (Ambulatory Surgery Centers) and HOPDs.
Lower Costs, Higher Efficiency: Outpatient procedures are ~40% less expensive on average, with patients spending 30% less time onsite. Hospitals benefit from increased throughput and freed-up inpatient capacity.
Better Patient Experience: Patients prefer outpatient care for its efficiency, comfort, and outcomes. Studies show infection rates 50% lower in outpatient settings, and patients value recovering at home the same day.
Four Ps Driving Growth:
- Payers – Steering cases to lower-cost outpatient sites.
- Physicians – Ownership opportunities align incentives with hospitals.
- Patients – Demand faster, more personalized, cost-effective care.
- Politics – Policy changes (site neutrality, CON rollbacks, inpatient-only list phase-out) accelerate adoption.
Strategic Advantage for Health Systems: Outpatient expansion allows hospitals to recruit and retain physicians, expand geographically, and compete effectively in a payer-driven market.
“What they’re finding is that through physician alignment and physician recruitment, they’re now able to retain and recruit physicians. They’re able to increase capacity in their inpatient areas (which there’s a shortage in across the country, and is expected to also increase). So they’re looking at capacity constraints that can now be resolved.” – Wes
Partnering for Success: Advisory and management partners like Avanza and MedHQ help health systems evaluate feasibility, migrate services, and streamline operations, freeing administrators to focus on growth and patient care.
When you move into the surgery center space, the amount of work that’s laid on the administrator on site is massive. We ask the administrator to do everything that the whole C-suite at a hospital does…So our job is to come in and try to make their job easier. Let us [MedHQ] take on those simple, day-to-day, mundane, extremely important, and necessary tasks. And let [administrators] go deliver on your strategy. – Derrick
The Road Ahead
Analysts project 7–9% annual growth in outpatient care over the next five years, with CMS planning to dissolve the inpatient-only list and add ~300 new ASC-approved procedures by 2026. Outpatient joint replacements are expected to rise from 30–40% today to ~70% by 2030, with cardiovascular procedures next on the horizon.
I think we’re in a really interesting inflection point in healthcare, and watching this shift to outpatient is exciting and it’s a change that we haven’t seen before. It’s been slowly occurring for the last 20-25 years, but is really accelerating quickly now, and I’m excited to see where it goes. – Derrick
The Bottom Line: Outpatient care is no longer optional; it’s the future of sustainable healthcare delivery. By embracing this model, health systems can improve patient satisfaction, reduce costs, align with physicians, and expand their reach.
🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode to hear more from MedHQ and Avanza on what’s driving this industry shift and how forward-thinking health systems are leading the way.
