While significant efforts have focused on improving inpatient outcomes, chronic disease management, and preventive care, there has been little change to acute illness care in the outpatient setting. With shifts in how care is delivered—due to greater patient complexity, workforce shortages, and rising costs—patients are moving away from traditional doctor’s offices as the primary site for acute illness care. With the rise in emergency department visits and the rapid growth of acute care clinics, the landscape of acute illness care is now more fragmented than ever. This presentation will explore historical factors, policy environment, and stakeholder interests that, together, contributed to the current state of acute care delivery. We will further discuss how integration across the spectrum of care between outpatient, emergency, and inpatient care is essential to ensuring timely, high-quality, and coordinated acute care for patients, highlighting policy gaps and potential solutions to address this increasingly prominent issue.
Dr. Chou's presentation is part of the Emerging Scholars Exchange Program.