Healthcare services are moving between sites of care. That’s not a new trend, but it’s accelerating and affecting more high-revenue services.

We keep track of the most important trends and will provide an annual update so that you can stay informed about shifts in your market — and those likely to reach you next. For this report, we analyzed Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics^® Data Mart Database ending in 2022.

Significant changes have occurred. Following several years of outpatient and ASC eligibility, joint replacement volumes shifted to majority outpatient. The COVID pandemic disrupted volume trends and created a clinical impetus to minimize inpatient utilization. Operational changes solidified outpatient shifts, while care practices changed across service lines, resulting in structural changes to care delivery. As we’ve seen in past analyses, local forces including the physician landscape, infrastructure, volumes and health plan activity shape the pace of change.

This report examines site-of-care shifts from three lenses, each of which reveals a different insight on the changing delivery landscape.