Ambulatory Care

Ambulatory care is outpatient care for the patient. It is personal health care and
the patient receives consultation, treatment, and prevention of their health problems
and concerns. Ambulatory care uses advanced medical technology and advanced
medical procedures. Ambulatory care is designed to reduce and prevent the need to be
admitted into a hospital setting. It saves the patient time and saves the patient and their
insurance money. The patient avoids being monitored by the hospital, which saves time
and money.
Ambulatory care was started in the early 1970s. In 1982 ambulatory care
services were approved for reimbursement from Medicare. There are approximately
over 3,000 ambulatory care centers in the United States of America. There are many
different types of ambulatory care centers, some treat only one specialty and others
treat and prevent a wide variety of health problems. Over the past 10 years the demand
for ambulatory care centers has increased. Over 70 percent of all surgeries and
healthcare treatment and prevention are performed as an ambulatory care service. The
need for an inpatient care surgery is decreasing.
There are many settings where ambulatory care can occur; doctors offices,
clinics, hospitals, non-medical institutions, and non-institutions. The most common
place where ambulatory care services can occur is in a physicians office. A physician
that specializes is dermatology, obstetrics, cardiology, internal medicine, gynecology,
ophthalmology, family medicine, gastroenterology, and endocrinology can all perform

ambulatory care services if needed. The ambulatory care service will be provided during
a scheduled physicians visit. Ambulatory care clinics, ambulatory surgery centers,
polyclinics, and urgent care centers are all types of clinics where ambulatory care
services are provided The type of ambulatory care services that occur in clinics are
services that are not severe and do not need to be treated in a hospital but the services
are not able to be performed in a physicians office. Emergency departments are located
in hospitals but they perform same-day surgeries and treatments that are considered
ambulatory care services because they do not require the patient to be monitored by
the hospital. Non-medical institutions that perform ambulatory care services are public
schools and prison type settings. Non-institutions that preform ambulatory care services
are mobile clinics that preform for example, large amount of free immunizations or
large amount of free preventative tests.
There are many different services that are performed at an ambulatory care
setting. Procedures include scopes, infusions, EKGs, stress EKGs, blood tests, x-rays,
some biopsies, cauterizations, minor surgery, childbirth, plastic surgery, eye care, sports
medicine, pain clinics, and much more.
There are many financial benefits to using an ambulatory care center. One
financial benefit is your co-payment will be significantly smaller at an ambulatory care
center then at a hospital or inpatient center. Surgeries and procedures are also less
costly at an ambulatory care center than at an inpatient hospital setting. For example, if
a patient needs to be treated for strep throat it costs over $500 les at an ambulatory
care setting than being treated for strep throat in a hospital. An ambulatory care center

costs less to run than a hospital. A hospital costs approximately $600 per square foot
and an ambulatory care center costs around $300 per square foot.
An ambulatory care medical record is a health record that is electronically
stored. An ambulatory medical record consists of all the patients outpatient health care
records including all surgeries and treatment that did not require the patient to be
admitted or monitored in hospital. Ambulatory care health records are stored in a
database call ambulatory medical record systems (AMRS.) AMRS is accessible by
physicians and other medical professionals. AMRS help maintain a patients accurate
health record in connection with an electronic medical record (EMR) system. There are
two main vendors that supply an AMRS, GE and Allscripts.
The minimum data set for ambulatory care is call the Uniform Ambulatory Care
Data Set (UACDS.) There are many purposes for the UACDS. One purpose is to help all
physicians and other health care professionals care for their patients and also help with
managing the health care organization. Another purpose for the UACDS is to help the
physician with professional review and self-evaluation. The UACDS helps the medical
field in providing a better understanding of health problems, complaints, and diseases.
The UACDS helps the managers in charge of the offices of the health care organization
where ambulatory services are given by planning the services given and by helping
monitor all the costs of the organization. The last purpose of the UACDS is it provides
the needs of insurance groups to develop uniform insurance claims forms and patient
billing forms.

There are three main sections to be included in the UACDS. The first section is
about characteristics of the patient. Patient information would be the patients surname,
first name, and middle initial. The patient must be given a patient identification number.
A patient identification number is a number that is unique and it distinguishes the
patients ambulatory care record from all other patients records. The next data
included is the patients residence, which includes the patients address, city, state, and
zip code. The record must include the patients date of birth, race, and sex of the
patient. Source of payment, whether the patient is in a government assisted program,
and the patients insurance is the last set of information included in the first section of
the UACDS. The second section of the UACDS is the characteristics of the provider. This
includes the providers name, providers identification number, address, and profession.
The last section of the UACDS is characteristics of the patient-provider encounter. This
includes the date of the encounter, place of encounter, reason for encounter, findings,
diagnosis, services, procedures, itemized charges, and disposition.

Works Cited
www.wikipedia.org. Ambulatory Care. July, 25, 2011.
www.fiercehealthcare.com. Ambulatory Care. 2014. FierceMarkets.
www.integrismayescounty.com. Ambulatory Care. 2014. Pryor, OK, 74361.
www.healthcarefinancenews.com. The Accelerating Growth of Ambulatory Care
Facilities. 2012. James Ellis, Aaron Razavi.
www.searchhealthit.techtarget.com. Ambulatory Medical Record (AMR.) Margaret
Rouse.
www.searchhealthit.techtarget.com. Large Vendors Lining Up Ambulatory EHR
Systems. Don Fluckinger.
Ambulatory Medical Care Records: Uniform Minimum Basic Data Set. Dhew
Publication. U.S. Department of Health Education, and Welfare. Rockville, Md.
The Future of Ambulatory Care. John Barker, Ed Pocock, Charles Huber. Duke
University.