An outpatient is a person who visits a hospital or other medical facility for diagnosis or treatment but does not require a bed or to be admitted for overnight care. Outpatient care is any healthcare consultation, procedure, treatment, or other service that is administered without an overnight stay at a hospital or medical facility. Outpatient care is administered in various outpatient facilities such as primary care clinics, community health centers, urgent care clinics, and ambulatory surgery centers. Outpatient care is different from inpatient care, which is care provided in a hospital or other type of inpatient facility, where the patient is admitted and spends at least one night, sometimes more, depending on their condition.

Examples of outpatient care include routine primary care visits, diagnostic imaging, bloodwork and urine tests, physical therapy, colonoscopies, mammograms, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and certain surgical procedures such as dental surgery, gastric bypass, breast augmentation, hip and knee replacements, and other procedures.

Outpatient departments or outpatient clinics are the parts of hospitals designed for the treatment of outpatients. Modern outpatient departments offer a wide range of treatment services, diagnostic tests, and minor surgical procedures. The outpatient department is an important part of the overall running of the hospital and is normally integrated with the in-patient services and staffed by consultant physicians and surgeons who also attend inpatients in the wards. Many patients are examined and given treatment as outpatients before being admitted to the hospital at a later date as inpatients.