Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often requires specialized care. While much of IBD care has shifted to the outpatient setting, hospitalizations remain a major site of healthcare utilization and a sizable proportion of patients with inflammatory bowel disease require hospitalization or surgery during their lifetime. In this review, we approach IBD care from the population-level with a specific focus on hospitalization for IBD, including the shifts from inpatient to outpatient care, the balance of emergency and elective hospitalizations, regionalization of specialty IBD care, and contribution of surgery and endoscopy to hospitalized care.