Group Health Insurance: Inpatient vs. Outpatient Department Treatments

Inpatient treatments refer to situations where a person has to be admitted to a hospital for medical treatment. Such inpatient hospitalization can be planned or unplanned, such as a pre-planned operation or admission during an uncertain emergency. Under inpatient treatment, an employee needs to stay overnight or more than a day to avail of the benefits of group mediclaim.

Such plans can usually be availed in cases of critical diseases where the patient has to be admitted to the hospital for overnight and extended periods.

Inpatient treatments can be of 2 types

Serious health issues: Brain damage, respiratory problems, etc.
Complex surgeries: Bypass surgeries, organ transplants, and so on, which require long-term observation.

What Are Outpatient Treatments? ✨

Outpatient treatments refer to situations where patients require medical care without hospitalization. Such treatment does not require visiting the hospital but diagnostic centers, clinics, rehabilitation centers, etc.

Some employee health insurance policies provide coverage for outpatient treatment, and some do not. In outpatient treatment, a patient is just suffering from cough, flu, dental extractions, and many more where the patient needs to go through minor surgeries. Such plans usually do not cover outpatient treatments, but there are add-on plans that can be added as per the policyholder’s requirements.

There are several treatments and tests covered under outpatient treatments:

Chest X-rays
CT scans
Blood tests
Urinalysis
Chemotherapy and many more.

Difference Between Inpatient Department vs. Outpatient Department Treatments ⚡️

Basis for difference	Inpatient treatment	Outpatient treatment
Introduction	A patient is admitted to the hospital overnight or more. It is either planned or non-planned.	A patient requires medical care without hospitalization, at home only.
Monitoring	Full-time monitoring is required by the patient, as in, the patient needs to be monitored 24/7.	Monitoring is required only at regular intervals with a few days’ gap.
Coverage under corporate insurance	Such treatment has coverage under group insurance with certain conditions.	Not all group policies cover such treatments and can be added to the base plan if required by the policyholder.
Types of medical care	It includes the treatment of severe health issues like brain damage, respiratory problems, complicated surgeries like bypass surgery, organ transplantation, etc.	It includes chest X-rays, CT scans, breathing problems, blood tests, urinalysis, bladder infections, chemotherapy sessions, etc.
Cost of treatment	Treatment costs can be massive.	Fewer costs are incurred.
Treatment coverage	It covers serious diseases.	It covers typical viral diseases.
Healthcare professionals	A larger group of healthcare specialists and caretakers is required under inpatient treatment.	No large group of specialists is required. Formal assistants and physical therapists can perform outpatient treatments.
Consumption of time	It requires staying overnight or days and nights for the treatment.	It only requires the consumption of some hours for the treatment.
Network access	It offers many therapy and treatment options.	It offers limited services to its patients.
Success rate	It has a higher success rate.	It has a lower success rate.
Online or offline	The patients need to visit the hospital to avail benefits of particular services.	The patients can take treatment at home with online sessions too.

Inpatient and outpatient treatments are very common these days. Before selecting a group policy, make sure to check the clause of such treatment services to avail of its benefits in the future. Medical expenses are higher these days. To cut off such expenses, a person must select those group policies that provide the coverage of inpatient and outpatient treatment services.

Many diseases are covered under inpatient and outpatient treatments, such as traumatic injury, serious injury, severe burns, chronic diseases, childbirth, minor surgeries, minor illness, coughing, general blood check-ups, dialysis, dental surgeries, extraction, implants, and many more.

Conclusion?

Inpatient and outpatient services each have their respective benefits. The significant difference between such treatments is time. The success rate of inpatient treatments is more than the outpatient treatments because of the 24/7 monitoring process. Plum Insurance offers comprehensive group health insurance plans that individuals can easily avail of to treat various critical diseases.