Figueroa JF, et al. - Researchers demonstrated the trends in hospitalization vs observation stay for ambulatory care–sensitive conditions. Hospitalizations associated with ambulatory care–sensitive conditions (ACSCs, conditions like urinary tract infection and dehydration, for which hospitalization is usually avoidable if patients have access to efficient primary care, as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) are widely acknowledged as a key measure of access to high-quality primary care. A substantial focus on enhancing ambulatory care nationally in recent years had been noted. Thus, rates of hospital admissions correlated to ACSCs are used with rising frequency to evaluate and incentivize the performance in the ambulatory setting of healthcare professionals engaging in national Medicare alternative payment programs, like accountable care organizations and alternative quality contracts administered by private payers, which further stress on hospitals to admit lesser patients. To date, there is some indication that rates of avoidable hospitalizations have certainly been falling. Nonetheless, during this same period, the rates of hospital admissions “for observation,” which is not considered as inpatient admissions, have been rising. The degree to which reported drops in avoidable hospitalizations associated with ACSCs to represent real gains in ambulatory care and not simply an artifact of a growing shift from inpatient status to notice status is unknown.