As hospitals increasingly experience coronavirus-related demand surges, they will require additional inpatient and critical care facility capacity, staff, and supplies. These surges also necessitate that patients who require in-person treatment for urgent, non-COVID-related concerns have options for accessing safe and timely treatment.
In order to expand physical capacity to manage both COVID- and non-COVID-related health care needs, hospitals can optimize the use of hospital-affiliated urgent care centers (UCCs) and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and look to non-health care facilities as alternative health care sites.