An Examination of the Implications of Excess Hospital Bed Capacity

[摘要] The United States has excess hospital bed capacity. For many years, health care experts have suggested the ;;over bedding;; of the American hospital system has been of the key drivers of high medical costs. Dating back to 1959. when Milton Roemer, MD, proclaimed ;;A built bed is a filled bed,;; there is evidence that the availability of hospital beds creates the demand for hospital services. In turn, overuse of hospitalization, the most expensive mode of medical care, propels overall health care costs. For the period 1960 to 1980, the number of hospital beds in the United States rose 55 percent while population increased only 26 percent. Medical care prices were also skyrocketing. For the period 1974 to 1982, the medical care services CPI (consumer price index), a measure of price inflation, was increasing dramatically each year. The average annual rate of increase for the period was 10.59 percent. In 1983, the annual increases in medical CPI began to slow with the average annual rate of increase dropping to 8.66 percent. The trend is continuing with the annual increases for 1994 and 1995 being only 5.2 percent and 5.1 percent respectively. For the twenty-year period 1975 to 1994, this paper will examine a possible relationship between the annual percentage change of medical consumer price index (CPI) and the percentage rate o f reduction of hospital beds per thousand population. Since national HMO information is only available since 1976, it will also explore a possible correlation between HMO penetration and the reduction in the number o f hospital beds from 1976 to 1994. A subsequent analysis will address the relationship between HMO penetration and hospital beds regionally for the period 1983 to 1994.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] medical inflation

[关键词] hospital capacity;medical inflation;medical costs;health maintenance organizations (HMO);College of Arts and Sciences: Public Administration