The healthcare industry is one of the most complex in our country, an organism with many systems working simultaneously, much like the human body. As such, these systems serve different functions, albeit all with the same goal. Consider for a moment how our bodies have different systems to focus on breathing, blood flow, movement, digestion, and thinking.
Likewise, the healthcare industry has systems and services that focus on different treatments for diseases, emergency response, interventions, preventative care, generational care, and so on. These systems (and the healthcare professionals who work within them—administrators, clinicians, allied health staff, and support staff)—are necessary for the health and well-being of all. Let’s drop the body analogy now and refer to these systems as the different types of healthcare facilities.
All different types of healthcare facilities need administrators and managers to run them, and professionals trained in healthcare service delivery and its support. Here, we explore common types of healthcare facilities by answering common questions and providing helpful facts.
What Are the Various Types of Healthcare Facilities?
Here's a list of the most common healthcare facilities. Keep in mind that in some cases these facilities are independent locations, while in others they are a part of a hospital—either freestanding or a unit within a healthcare system.
Hospitals
When you think of the word hospital, it's likely an image that comes to mind, whether it's that of a hospital near you, of one you've worked at, or from your favorite TV show. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), "Hospitals are licensed institutions with at least six beds whose primary function is to provide diagnostic and therapeutic patient services for medical conditions; they have an organized physician staff; and they provide continuous nursing services under the supervision of registered nurses."
Quick Facts:
- As of 2022, there are 6,129 hospitals in the US.
- General medical and surgical hospitals are the top employers for registered nurses (RNs), and in 2022 they employed over 1.7 million RNs, over 29,000 occupational therapists, over 55,000 physical therapists, and over 18,600 speech-language pathologists.
- In 2022, hospitals were the third top employer for licensed practical nurses (LPNs) employing over 80,000.
- In 2022, hospitals were also the second top employer for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) employing just under 400,000.
Outpatient Surgery Centers
Outpatient Surgery Centers (OSCs) are also referred to as Hospital Outpatient Departments (HOPDs) or Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs). They are facilities that perform hospital outpatient services or quick surgical procedures (sometimes invasive diagnostic procedures such as colonoscopies) that do not require an overnight stay for recovery and observation. Unlike hospitals, OSCs intentionally lack the infrastructure and space to take people in for monitoring overnight. OSCs and ASCs are understandably often confused with HOPDs—they serve the same purpose after all—but there is one key difference that we explore further down in frequently asked questions.
Quick Facts:
- In 2022, Outpatient Care Centers employed over 150,000 RNs, over 1,500 occupational therapists, over 5,000 physical therapists, and over 33,000 LPNs.
- In 1970, the first Ambulatory Surgical Center was opened in Phoenix, AZ.
- US ASC procedures are expected to grow by 25% and HOPD procedures by 18% in the next 10 years.
Skilled-Nursing Facilities
A skilled nursing facility—typically referred to by the acronym SNF—is an inpatient facility for persons requiring skilled nursing care during their rehabilitation after an acute inpatient hospital event. It is a setting intended to be short-term for patients that no longer require hospital-level care but may require skilled nursing care such as IV injections and physical or occupational therapy before improving enough to be discharged home. Medicare will provide coverage for eligible persons for up to 100 days, although usually patients are discharged between 20-38 days.
Quick Facts:
- There are 16,930 SNFs in the US.
- In 2022, the SNF market in the US was valued at $179 billion.
- In 2022, SNFs employed over 120,000 RNs, over 9,000 occupational therapists, over 10,000 physical therapists, over 5,600 speech-language pathologists, and over 47,000 home health and personal care aides.
- In 2022, SNFs were the top employer for LPNs and CNAs employing over 170,000 and almost 500,000, respectively.
Long-Term Care Facilities
Also called nursing homes, Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities are residential facilities that provide 24-hour care to residents without a limit on the duration of their stay. Residents in LTCs may receive skilled nursing care in addition to custodial care, which includes (but is not limited to) assistance with hygiene, toileting, eating, transfers, and housekeeping.
Quick Facts:
- Custodial care is usually not eligible for Medicare coverage. Therefore, many LTCs are also certified as SNFs.
- Often SNF patients who are no longer eligible for SNF services but cannot be safely discharged to their homes will remain as residents for long-term care.
Assisted Living Facilities
Assisted living facilities are an in-between setting for adults who need assistance with their daily activities, such as transportation, meals, and housekeeping, but do not require the 24-hour custodial care that an LTC provides.
Quick Facts:
- In 2022, retirement communities and assisted living facilities employed 420 speech-language pathologists, and over 40,000 LPNs.
- In 2022, they were the third top employer for CNAs, employing more than 140,000.
- In 2022, they were the fourth top employer for home health and personal care aides, employing over 237,000.
Hospice and Palliative Care Facilities
Hospice and palliative care facilities are often linked because the nature of their nursing care focuses on the pain management and comfort of the patient above all else. Hospice facilities are for people with a terminal diagnosis who have decided to forego any treatments aimed at curing or prolonging their lives. Palliative care facilities focus on patient comfort and pain relief but their patients can still make healthcare treatment decisions that may cure their illness or prolong their lives.
Quick Facts:
- In 2020, the average length of hospice care for Medicare patients was 97 days.
- Medicare paid $22.4 billion to hospice providers in 2020.
Physician's Offices
These settings often go by different names, such as a physician's practice, physician group, doctor's office, medical office, medical clinic, etc. A single licensed physician (or a group of licensed physicians) works alongside other licensed medical professionals to provide non-emergency medical services, such as diagnosing and treating sickness, making referrals for specialty diagnostic services or treatments, and performing routine wellness checks.
Quick Facts:
- In 2022, physician's offices were the second top employer for RNs, employing more than 200,000.
- In 2022, they were also the fourth top employer for LPNs, employing just under 80,000.
Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
These facilities are for patients who need rehabilitation therapy but not skilled nursing or custodial care services. According to Medicare, a "Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility (CORF) is a medical facility that provides outpatient diagnostic, therapeutic, and restorative services for the rehabilitation of your injury, disability, or illness." Patients are able to live independently and visit the outpatient rehabilitation facility for scheduled appointments. Rehabilitation therapy services offered in these settings typically include physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Quick Facts:
- The US market size for physical therapy and occupational therapy is expected to grow to $71.75 billion by 2028.
- As of 2023, there are 45,905 physical therapy rehabilitation centers in the US.
Urgent Care Centers
Urgent care centers are the middle ground between a physician's office and a hospital emergency department. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, "An urgent care center is a walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of medical care for minor illnesses and injuries in an ambulatory medical facility outside of a traditional hospital-based or freestanding emergency department (ED)."
Quick Facts:
- As of 2023, there are 11,150 urgent care centers in the US.
- Patient care in urgent care clinics increased by 60% from 2019 to 2021.
Mental Health Clinics
Mental health clinics provide outpatient mental health services such as mental health assessments, counseling, and therapy services for patients who live independently and can attend scheduled appointments. These can be privately owned and operated or funded by a city or county as a community mental health center.
Quick Facts:
- Over 20% of adults in the US live with a mental illness.
- Persons with depression have an increased risk for some physical illnesses.
Psychiatric Hospitals
Psychiatric hospitals offer inpatient psychiatric services, primarily for people who have been professionally assessed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Quick Facts:
- Psychiatric hospitalizations peaked in the 1950s, reaching over half a million Americans.
- About 4% of US adults live with a serious mental illness (SMI).
- In 2022, psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals combined employed just under 40,000 RNs and over 8,500 LPNs.
Substance Abuse Clinics and Hospitals
Substance abuse clinics and hospitals focus on treatments for individuals struggling with addiction. Clinics offer outpatient treatment services for individuals and groups, while hospitals provide inpatient treatment. Many people refer to substance abuse hospitals as "going to rehab" which should not be confused with rehabilitation facilities (mentioned above to provide physical, occupational, and speech therapies).
Quick Facts:
- Persons suffering compound issues of substance abuse and mental illness or physical illness are more likely to receive inpatient treatment.
- In 2020, only 5% of all substance abuse facilities offered inpatient substance abuse treatment.
- In 2022, psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals combined employed just under 40,000 RNs and over 8,500 LPNs.
Birth Centers
Most hospitals have a Labor & Delivery Unit for expecting mothers. However, not all mothers want their birthing experience to be in a hospital, and not all communities have quick access to a hospital. The American Association of Birth Centers defines a birth center as, "a healthcare facility for childbirth where care is provided in the midwifery and wellness model. The birth center is freestanding and not a hospital. Birth centers are an integrated part of the healthcare system and are guided by principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and cost-effectiveness. While the practice of midwifery and the support of physiologic birth and newborn transition may occur in other settings, this is the exclusive model of care in a birth center.”
Quick Facts:
- 82% of US states have regulations in place for birth centers.
- As of 2022, there are 400 birth centers across the US.
- In 2022, there were 7,950 licensed and employed Nurse Midwives.
Dialysis Clinics
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) requires routine dialysis treatments to clean the kidneys two to three times a week. Dialysis clinics shift the strain of this critical yet routine medical treatment from hospitals. Dialysis clinics may be hospital affiliated or independent.
Quick Facts:
- Approximately 35.5 million adults in the US have CKD.
- Nine out of ten adults have CKD but don't know.
Imaging or Radiology Clinics
These clinics provide diagnostic imaging and radiology services such as MRI, MRA, PET scan, CT scan, x-ray, mammography, and ultrasound.
Quick Fact:
- The market value for US diagnostic imaging services is projected to grow to $176.5 billion by 2028.
What Is an Outpatient Clinic?
An outpatient clinic is a generic term typically referring to an outpatient surgery center, hospital outpatient department, ambulatory surgery center, or specialty outpatient clinic.
What Is the Difference between HOPDs and OSCs/ASCs?
HOPDs and OSCs/ASCs perform surgical procedures that do not require an overnight stay for recovery and observation. What separates them lies in their ownership and, therefore, their pricing structure.
HOPDs are part of a hospital, regardless of physical location, whereas OSCs or ASCs are independently run clinics unaffiliated with a hospital. This difference is significant for patients and insurance companies in how it impacts procedure pricing. ASCs or OSCs are considerably more affordable for both Medicare and patients (co-insurance and out-of-pocket) than HOPDs.
What Is State-Paid Assisted Living?
State-paid assisted living refers to Medicaid coverage for assisted living services. This question demonstrates a commonly misunderstood fact about Medicaid benefits for assisted living. While Medicaid may provide some financial assistance for assisted living costs, it does not pay for room and board costs.
According to the American Council on Aging, some states have a cash assistance program that can help cover the cost of room and board in adult assisted living homes. Medicaid benefits vary among states, although they are often likely to cover services such as:
- Assistance with toileting, hygiene, eating, and dressing
- Housekeeping services such as cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and meal preparation
- Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS), a button often worn on a lanyard or bracelet with a transmitter that can call for emergency help
- Case management
- Transportation
What Is Residential Assisted Living?
Assisted living services can be provided in a person's home by a home healthcare agency or other caregiver service. With many older adults not interested in moving into a nursing home for custodial care but unable to live independently without assistance, residential assisted living is a compromise. Often, residential assisted living is a building with apartments or a gated community of homes. Traditionally, the residents pay rent and pay for assisted living services but maintain some measure of independence.
What Are Retirement Care Homes?
The term “retirement care home” is a blanket term that refers to the various types of senior living communities and facilities available.
How Can I Look Up a Nursing Home’s Star Ranking?
You can look up nursing homes and compare their star rankings on the Medicare website. You can also use this compare tool to locate and compare other categories of facilities, including physicians, home healthcare, hospice care, dialysis, and more.
All Types of Healthcare Facilities Use Nursa
Staffing your healthcare facility, regardless of its size, comes with challenges, in great part because of the nursing shortage. As such, burnout, turnover, staff call-offs, inexperience, and miscommunication compound the problem. For a hospital administrator or director of nursing (DON), staffing is one of many responsibilities, yet it often ends up occupying a significant amount of time and mental energy. Using Nursa to source talented nursing professionals on-demand is as easy as it is affordable. Any healthcare facility can use Nursa to fill shift gaps to ensure manageable nurse-to-patient ratios and promote continuity of care.
How Healthcare Facilities Use Nursa
Schedule a demo if you want to learn more about how Nursa can work for you—or dive in and start solving staffing challenges immediately by following these quick steps to register your healthcare facility on Nursa.
- Create an account and follow the prompts to register your facility.
- Establish a compliance list for each type of nursing professional that may work at your facility.
- Create and post PRN shifts.
- Review shift applicants and approve your preferred candidate for the posting.
Nursa is available via a smartphone application and on your desktop; both are designed for full functionality. Use Nursa how you work best: on the fly from your phone or at your desk. Register with Nursa today to fill up those shift vacancies, leaving you free to focus on your other responsibilities.
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