WASHINGTON – Patients deserve access to high-quality, around-the-clock care. Patient Access Week (March 31 to April 6) serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting access to the 24/7/365 patient care hospitals and health systems provide to communities throughout the nation.
Here are the facts:
- Hospitals and health systems are open to patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year — because injuries, illnesses, and emergencies don’t wait for weekdays or limited business hours.
- Hospitals provide patients with cutting-edge, complex and coordinated care, including trauma centers, burn units, stroke, cardiac-intensive care, neonatal care, and cancer care.
- Hospitals regularly invest in innovation, such as leveraging AI and clinical data to produce groundbreaking quality improvements for patients. Medical research also leads to innovations that save lives and improve patient care.
- Hospitals and health systems provided 140 million emergency department visits in 2021 alone.
- Hospitals and health systems play a vital public function caring for patients during natural or manmade disasters and public health emergencies.
- Hospitals are main points of care for patients in rural communities and invest in the sites of care they need most.
- Rural communities disproportionately seek care from Hospital Outpatient Departments (HOPDs). In fact, “for patients from counties where 90 percent or more of the population lives in a rural area, 36 percent of physician visits are provided through an HOPD,” a recent analysis finds. In contrast, HOPDs in the least rural counties provide 25 percent of physician visits, according to the same analysis.
- Hospitals care for the most vulnerable patients who could otherwise fall through the cracks. They treat sicker patients, lower-income patients, and patients with more complex conditions than other types of care providers.
- Hospitals are also an essential source of care for many of the most vulnerable patients: individuals who are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, also known as duals. In part due to their more complex clinical needs, these patients rely more heavily on “HOPDs for outpatient care than non-duals, receiving 40 percent of visits through an HOPD compared to 32 percent among non-duals.”
Policymakers should work together to protect and strengthen patients’ access to 24/7/365 care, ensuring hospitals and health systems have the resources they need to provide the care patients deserve.