A key insight illustrated in infographic form.
The graphic below highlights the most recent data from software and analytics firm Strata Decision Technology comparing 2024 hospital volumes by admission types with 2023 and 2022 volumes. Volumes across all hospital admission types increased in 2024. When compared with 2023, inpatient volumes growth led the way at 5%, signaling that inpatient volumes are returning despite the accelerated shift to outpatient care that occurred during the pandemic. Outpatient volumes rose by 4.9% compared with 2023, suggesting that hospitals’ investments in outpatient care appear to be paying off. There is some regional variability in the year-over-year volume changes. Hospitals in the West and South are outperforming hospitals nationally in outpatient and observation volumes growth respectively, and observation and emergency volumes in Northeast hospitals are behind the national trend. However, volume growth and continued recovery do not appear to be concentrated in a specific region, with all regions tracking above the national average in at least one admission type, an interesting development following vast regional differences in hospital volumes recovery in 2023.
