Healthcare is entering a new era, one that’s faster, more decentralized, and increasingly outpatient. According to the newly released 2025 Impact of Change® Forecast from Vizient’s Sg2, adult outpatient volumes are projected to grow by 18 percent over the next decade, compared to just 5 percent growth in inpatient care. This seismic shift will reshape how care is delivered, as well as who delivers it and how it’s marketed.
Whether your organization is a hospital, surgical center, specialty practice, or outpatient clinic, the message is clear: The future of healthcare is moving beyond the hospital walls faster than ever.
Why It’s Happening
Key trends driving this shift include:
- Rising demand for outpatient care. Advances in medical technology, anesthesia, and recovery protocols have made it safer and more efficient to deliver procedures in ambulatory and specialty settings. From orthopedics to oncology to behavioral health, outpatient is now the default.
- Inpatient stays are longer, but for sicker patients. While inpatient growth is relatively flat, patients admitted to the hospital are older, sicker, and require more complex care. That means longer stays and fewer available beds.
- Behavioral health needs are rising. The demand for mental health services continues to outpace access, especially in emergency settings. EDs aren’t designed for behavioral health patients, leading to longer stays and overcrowding.
Opportunities and Challenges: The Site-of-Care Realignment
This transformation presents a dual challenge. Hospitals must rethink capacity, care delivery, and patient flow, while medical/specialty practices must step into expanded roles to offer more services, faster access, and stronger patient engagement. At the same time, patients expect convenience, access, and transparency, especially as more care shifts to outpatient, retail, or even virtual environments.
Rural hospitals aren’t just weathering disruption. They are being redefined as it happens.
The forces shaping care delivery for critical access hospitals are multiplying. This briefing provides a no-spin, high-relevance readout on the six biggest forces reshaping rural healthcare — and how your CAH can lead through the shift:
How Providers Can Respond (and Grow)
Here are five strategic imperatives for hospitals and specialty practices alike:
- Expand and Market Outpatient Services. From primary care to orthopedics to dermatology, patients are increasingly opting for same-day appointments, walk-in visits, and procedures that enable them to return home faster. Ensure that your outpatient services – and the convenience they offer – are prominently featured in your marketing.
- Divert Low-Acuity Patients from the ED. If you run an urgent care, specialty clinic, or telehealth platform, now is your time to shine. Promote alternatives to the ED for non-emergency care, particularly during evenings and weekends.
- Communicate Behavioral Health Access. With behavioral health visits expected to rise in both inpatient and outpatient (but especially in outpatient), make it easy for patients to access your services, whether in person, virtually, or via partnerships.
- Embrace the Home as a Care Site. More practices are offering remote monitoring, home infusion, or hybrid visits. If you offer any kind of “care-at-home” model, be sure to highlight it in your messaging. This type of care supports patient independence and meets rising demand.
- Use Technology to Simplify Access. Digital scheduling, triage chatbots, symptom checkers, virtual waiting rooms… these tools aren’t just nice to have anymore. They’re now competitive advantages.
Marketing in the New Healthcare Economy
As site-of-care dynamics evolve, so must your marketing strategy:
- Educate patients on where to go and when.
- Highlight convenience and service differentiation.
- Build trust through patient education, physician videos, and reputation management.
- Invest in SEO and local search to stay competitive as patients shop around.
- Focus on retention with email, text, and database marketing to keep patients engaged and returning.
Whether you’re a critical access hospital or a specialty clinic, the next decade demands adaptability. The healthcare delivery system is growing more connected, patients will continue to demand access, convenience, and continuity across every site of care.
At Onspire Health Marketing, we help healthcare organizations of all types tell their stories, strengthen their brands, and attract the right patients, whether care happens in the OR, the clinic, the home, or the cloud. The shift is real, and so is the opportunity, so contact us today.
About Onspire Health Marketing
Onspire Health Marketing ignites long-term, sustainable growth for medical specialties and practices, hospitals, and healthcare organizations of all types. We combine digital innovation, data-driven marketing strategies, and transformative growth solutions to provide full-service healthcare marketing solutions. With a vision that extends well beyond the conventional, we drive healthier brands through the power of authenticity, trust, and innovation.
Connect with us online or by email at grow@onspirehm.com today.