Describe the implications of this shift for hospitals, consumers, and the health care delivery system as a whole.

1) Hospital emergency departments continue to be used as an ever more important source of primary medical care by large numbers of the community’s medically underserved population. What are the implications of this practice for the patients, and on health care costs and quality of care? What would you propose as a means to change this situation?

2) Identify the major factors that have resulted in the shift in utilization from inpatient hospitalization to ambulatory care services. Describe the implications of this shift for hospitals, consumers, and the health care delivery system as a whole.