Hospitalcentered

Hospitalcentered is a descriptive term used in health services research and policy analysis to describe systems, policies, or practices that are oriented around hospital-based services and infrastructure. It characterizes planning, funding, and care delivery that prioritize hospitals—emergency departments, inpatient wards, specialty services, and tertiary care—over primary care, community-based services, or preventive care. The term is often used to contrast hospital-centric models with primary care–driven or integrated care approaches. Variants such as hospital-centered or hospital-centric are common in scholarly writing, while hospitalcentered appears in public discourse and sometimes in titles or hashtags.

Characteristics of a hospitalcentered approach typically include strong hospital capacity, referral pathways that funnel patients through hospital-based services, emphasis on episodic care, and funding mechanisms aligned with inpatient activity and procedures. Proponents argue that centralized hospital expertise, advanced technologies, and standardized protocols can improve outcomes for acute and complex conditions and support efficiency through high-volume practice.

Critiques highlight higher overall costs, fragmented care, potential overutilization of hospital services, and underinvestment in prevention, primary care, and community health. Critics also point to inequities where access to hospital services may be easier than access to coordinated outpatient care.

Policy implications focus on balancing hospital capacity with robust primary care, improving care transitions, and developing alternatives such as hospital-at-home models, integrated care networks, and strengthened community health programs to reduce avoidable hospital use. The term remains descriptive and contextual, reflecting patterns rather than a formal health system designation.