4 ms·

Can you elaborate on that?

• Spooky23 8y ago
  Most populated states have an overage of hospital beds, and anywhere from 40-50% of hospital revenues are from Medicare and 12-16% from Medicaid. It’s pretty obvious when you visit a hospital, very few younger patients are hospitalized. Private insurance makes it very difficult to remain as an inpatient... even a major surgery like a spinal fusion is a 48 hour stay. These institutions are mostly unnecessary and only exist because of their political power and government funding. There are exceptions, especially in rural areas and places in the south where the population of old people has boomed.
  • your-nanny 8y ago
    optimizing for expected averagevoccupancy is a good way to fail when facing a region wide medical emergency. excess capacity needs to be there.
• maxerickson 8y ago
  Insurance and public payers have pushed to make more care outpatient or delivered at less intensive facilities. Occupancy rates have declined even as the number of licensed beds has gone down (with population increasing substantially, so the per capita effect is even bigger): https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2015/089.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2015/089.pdf Especially look at small hospitals, which Medicare pays using a different formula to help keep them open (which isn't a bad thing, it increases access to care for lots of people).