CMS is unwinding the inpatient-only list, payers are steering cases out of the hospital and forecasters expect outpatient volume to grow nearly three times faster than inpatient over the next decade.
Here is how six health system executives are describing the shift:
David Banks. President and CEO, AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.): Mr. Banks framed growth around the full care continuum, not acute care alone, and said the system has learned the “right care in the right place” is increasingly prevention and chronic disease management delivered close to home.
Dennis Butts. Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Network Development Officer for Henry Ford Health (Detroit): Mr. Butts tied outpatient cardiology directly to the system’s affordability and access goals and said Henry Ford is actively pursuing the service line.
Steven Hanks, MD. President and CEO, St. Peter’s Health Partners (Albany, N.Y.) and St. Joseph’s Health (Syracuse, N.Y.): Trinity Health New York, which operates St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s, spent 2025 favoring new clinics and outpatient sites over capital-intensive hospital projects, Dr. Hanks said, and is now adding primary care centers, orthopedic centers, ASCs and outpatient cancer partnerships.
C. Todd Jones. Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Ambulatory Services Officer at BayCare Health System (Clearwater, Fla.). BayCare moved ambulatory leadership into the executive cabinet and merged it with system strategy. Mr. Jones described outpatient care as “a primary growth vehicle” for the system and said the change clarified who owns decisions on access, network development, physician integration and capital.
Cliff Robertson, MD. President and CEO of Saint Francis Health System (Tulsa, Okla.): Saint Francis is finishing several hospital capacity projects over the next 18 months, but Dr. Robertson said the system is now redirecting capital toward ambulatory access points.
Ray Vara Jr. President and CEO of Hawai’i Pacific Health (Honolulu): Mr. Vara said the system has spent more than a decade building out surgery centers, imaging and urgent care to lower costs and generate revenue outside the hospital. The backdrop: Nationally, outpatient revenue per calendar day rose 27% from February 2023 to February 2026, outpacing inpatient’s 23%, per Kaufman Hall.
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