All over America today we find medical professionals who are busy; in fact, they are increasingly busy as the Baby Boomers are reaching Medicare age and finally getting their health problems addressed. Sometimes these are health problems that really should have been addressed a few years back, but evaluation and care were delayed due to lack of coverage.
Meanwhile, even though caregivers are busier than ever, most hospitals have empty beds-sometimes lots of empty beds. Why is that? What are the key factors that have driven U.S. health care outside of the inpatient hospital into ambulatory care settings? If the inpatient hospital is empty, where do we find our patients these days? What specific types of facilities are providing more care than our hospitals are providing today?