If there's one thing Northwest Indiana hospitals expect over the next five years, it's change. On a national level, inpatient stays are on the decline as systems are increasingly being incentivized for keeping people out of the hospital. But that also provides an opportunity for hospital systems, which have been busy expanding their outpatient offerings in recent years, in part by buying out independent physician practices. Northwest Indiana hospitals say they're well equipped to deal with an industry in transition, and that the changes will ultimately result in them providing better, less costly care in settings most convenient for patients.
