outpatient

American  

[aut-pay-shuhnt] / ˈaʊtˌpeɪ ʃənt /

Or out-patient

noun

• outpatients
  plural

1. a patient who receives treatment at a hospital, as in an emergency room or clinic, but is not hospitalized.

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outpatient British  

/ ˈaʊtˌpeɪʃənt /

noun

1. a nonresident hospital patient Compare inpatient

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Usage

What does outpatient mean? Outpatient is commonly used as an adjective to describe treatment that does not require a patient to stay overnight at a hospital or other care facility—they come and leave on the same day. Outpatient is used in contrast with the term inpatient, which describes treatment that requires a patient to be admitted for at least one night. The terms are especially used in phrases like outpatient procedure (after which the patient can leave, instead of staying for further observation or treatment), inpatient treatment (which requires the patient to stay overnight at the hospital), and inpatient room (where such patients stay). Outpatient and inpatient are typically used in the context of hospitals, though inpatient can also refer to a patient who is admitted overnight at a mental health facility or other kind of clinic. Both terms can also be used as nouns referring to such patients. Example: I have an outpatient procedure scheduled for tomorrow morning, so I should be back home by the afternoon.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• outpatients
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of outpatient

First recorded in 1705–15; out- + patient

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

outpatient outpatients

There is no law limiting how much healthcare providers can bill insurers and patients for many outpatient services.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

To ease pressure on the emergency room, the hospital opened a special outpatient clinic in June for tick-bite victims, and nearly 400 people were treated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

The possibility that a single outpatient treatment could provide relief lasting several years is one reason researchers are closely studying what happens inside the knee after GAE.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

I called my insurance, confirmed no prior authorization was required, got a list of in-network providers and called the outpatient clinic to confirm they accepted my plan.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

“I have outpatient therapy from four to five, remember?”

From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben

The facility also would serve about 200 outpatients a day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

The researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 28 outpatients diagnosed with MDD at the Fourth People's Hospital of Taizhou.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2026

The highest number of ongoing waits - for both inpatients and outpatients – across Scotland were for orthopaedics.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

Another study of patients in the Veterans Affairs health system found that as of early 2023, less than a quarter of outpatients who tested positive for coronavirus infections were receiving any kind of anti-COVID medication.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024

The majority of my friends in there didn’t last, and out of the few that were still with me when I left even fewer survived as outpatients.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

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