The association between bed occupancy rates and hospital quality in the English National Health Service

We study whether hospitals that exhibit systematically higher bed occupancy rates are associated with lower quality in England over 2010/11–2017/18. We develop an economic conceptual framework to guide our empirical analysis and run regressions to inform possible policy interventions. First, we run a pooled OLS regression to test if high bed occupancy is associated with, and therefore acts as a signal of, lower quality, which could trigger additional regulation. Second, we test whether this association is explained by exogenous demand–supply factors such as potential demand, and unavoidable costs. Third, we include determinants of bed occupancy (beds, length of stay, and volume) that might be associated with quality directly, rather than indirectly through bed occupancy. Last, we use a within-between random-effects specification to decompose these associations into those due to variations in characteristics between hospitals and variations within hospitals. We find that bed occupancy rates are positively associated with overall and surgical mortality, negatively associated with patient-reported health gains, but not associated with other indicators. These results are robust to controlling for demand–supply shifters, beds, and volume. The associations reduce by 12%-25% after controlling for length of stay in most cases and are explained by variations in bed occupancy between hospitals.

     

关于全院统筹收治病人制度弊端的分析

现有文献报道认为,全院统筹收治病人制度可有效利用医院床位,加快床位周转,为医院创造更大的社会和经济价值.文章认为,全院统筹收治病人理论上只能提高床位使用率,而我国大、中城市三甲医院床位使用率已基本饱和,尤其随着各种疾病发病率的提高及老年化的趋势,我国医院的床位数已不能满足需要,全院统筹收治病人已无法发挥提高床位使用率的作用.全院统筹收治病人制度可导致医护患沟通缺乏,存在医疗隐患等弊端,在我国现阶段大型医院不适宜施行该制度.     

Inpatient capacity at children's hospitals during pandemic (H1N1) 2009 outbreak, United States

Quantifying how close hospitals came to exhausting capacity during the outbreak of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 can help the health care system plan for more virulent pandemics. This ecologic analysis used emergency department (ED) and inpatient data from 34 US children's hospitals. For the 11-week pandemic (H1N1) 2009 period during fall 2009, inpatient occupancy reached 95%, which was lower than the 101% occupancy during the 2008-09 seasonal influenza period. Fewer than 1 additional admission per 10 inpatient beds would have caused hospitals to reach 100% occupancy. Using parameters based on historical precedent, we built 5 models projecting inpatient occupancy, varying the ED visit numbers and admission rate for influenza-related ED visits. The 5 scenarios projected median occupancy as high as 132% of capacity. The pandemic did not exhaust inpatient bed capacity, but a more virulent pandemic has the potential to push children's hospitals past their maximum inpatient capacity.     

Strategies for cutting hospital beds: the impact on patient service.

OBJECTIVE: To develop insights on the impact of size, average length of stay, variability, and organization of clinical services on the relationship between occupancy rates and delays for beds. DATA SOURCES: The primary data source was Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Secondary data were obtained from the United Hospital Fund of New York reflecting data from about 150 hospitals. STUDY DESIGN: Data from Beth Israel Deaconess on discharges and length of stay were analyzed and fit into appropriate queueing models to generate tables and graphs illustrating the relationship between the variables mentioned above and the relationship between occupancy levels and delays. In addition, specific issues of current concern to hospital administrators were analyzed, including the impact of consolidation of clinical services and utilizing hospital beds uniformly across seven days a week rather than five. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using target occupancy levels as the primary determinant of bed capacity is inadequate and may lead to excessive delays for beds. Also, attempts to reduce hospital beds by consolidation of different clinical services into single nursing units may be counterproductive. CONCLUSIONS: More sophisticated methodologies are needed to support decisions that involve bed capacity and organization in order to understand the impact on patient service.     

The effect of hospital bed reduction on the use of beds: a comparative study of 10 European countries

In Europe, the reduction of acute care hospital beds has been one of the measures implemented to restrict hospital expenditure. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the effect bed reductions have on the use of the remaining beds within different healthcare systems. We concentrated on two healthcare system elements: hospital financing system (per diem and global budget systems) and physician remuneration system (fee-for-service and salary systems). We also controlled for technological development and demand for healthcare. We used data from the OECD health data files of 10 North-Western European countries on hospital bed supply and use. The hospital bed indicators used were occupancy rate, average length of stay and admission rate. The data were analysed with multilevel analysis. We found some indication that the different financial incentives of hospital financing systems do indeed influence hospital bed use in the case of reductions in acute care hospital bed supply in different ways. However, we found significant effects only for the hospital bed use indicators "occupancy rate" and "admission rate". For physician financing systems, no significant effects were found.     

How many beds? Capacity implications of hospital care demand projections in the Irish hospital system, 2015‐2030

Existing Irish hospital bed capacity is low by international standards while Ireland also reports the highest inpatient bed occupancy rate across OECD countries. Moreover, strong projected population growth and ageing is expected to increase demand for hospital care substantially by 2030. Reform proposals have suggested that increased investment and access to nonacute care may mitigate some increased demand for hospital care over the next number of years, and it is in this context that the Irish government has committed to increase the supply of public hospital beds by 2600 by 2027. Incorporating assumptions on the rebalancing of care to nonhospital settings, this paper analyses the capacity implications of projected demand for hospital care in Ireland to 2030. This analysis employs the HIPPOCRATES macrosimulation projection model of health care demand and expenditure developed in the ESRI to project public and private hospital bed capacity requirements in Ireland to 2030. We examine 6 alternative projection scenarios that vary assumptions related to population growth and ageing, healthy ageing, unmet demand, hospital occupancy, hospital length of stay, and avoidable hospitalisations. We project an increased need for between 4000 and 6300 beds across public and private hospitals (an increase of between 26.1% and 41.1%), of which 3200 to 5600 will be required in public hospitals. These findings suggest that government plans to increase public hospital capacity over the 10 years to 2027 by 2600 may not be sufficient to meet demand requirements to 2030, even when models of care changes are accounted for.     

天津市居民住院医疗机构选择及影响因素

目的了解天津市近10年来不同医疗机构入院人数和病床使用率的变化,分析影响居民选择住院机构的因素,为制定区域卫生规划,优化区域卫生资源配置提供参考.方法利用天津市1998年至2008年卫生统计年鉴和1993年至2008年四次卫生服务调查数据,采用SPSS16.0的描述性统计和有序多分类logistic回归对数据进行分析.结果 1998年至2008年间,与二级及以上医院和农村卫生院相比,社区卫生服务中心(站)的入院人数和病床使用率增幅最小,且社区卫生服务中心和农村卫生院的病床使用率一直低于二级及以上医院;居民选择住院医疗机构的影响因素有住院费用、性别、职业类型、征求治疗方案意见、地区分类.结论天津市需要加强社区卫生服务中心(站)建设,提高基层医疗卫生服务机构能力建设.     

Bed occupancy. Don't take it lying down

There is no standard optimum occupancy rate for hospitals. Bed occupancy rates must be considered in relation to the number of beds in a hospital. In general, a large hospital operating the same occupancy rate as a small one will have to turn away fewer patients. The bed needs of each trust need to be analysed in greater detail than has previously been the case.     

More patients, less payment: increasing hospital efficiency in the aftermath of health reform

A major issue for the US health care system will be accommodating the needs of the estimated thirty-two million Americans who will gain insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act by 2019. For hospitals, a traditional response to this increased demand might be to add resources, such as more staff and beds. We argue that such actions would be unaffordable and unnecessary. Research has demonstrated that large gains in efficiency can be made through streamlining patient flow and redesigning care processes. We argue that once managed efficiently, US hospitals, on average, could achieve at least an 80-90 percent bed occupancy rate--at least 15 percent higher than the current level--without adding beds at capital costs of approximately $1 million per bed. This article outlines a plan for hospitals to accommodate more patients without increasing beds or staff, and for policy makers to require hospitals to make these changes or provide incentives for them to do so.     

应用因子分析法对医疗工作质量进行综合评价

目的 分析医疗质量指标的潜在影响因素,综合评价医疗工作质量,为医院的经营管理提供一定的参考依据.方法 应用因子分析法统计徐州医学院附属医院部分科室13项医疗指标,包括出院人数、门诊人数、平均病床周转率、平均病床工作日、平均病床使用率、治愈好转率、实际占用总床日数、平均开放病床数、门诊与出院诊断符合率、入院与出院诊断符合率、三日确诊率、危重病人抢救成功率、危重病人住院率,应用SAS 9.13软件进行统计学处理.结果 从13项指标中提取出4个公因子,第一公因子为病床利用因子;第二公因子为诊断水平因子;第三公因子为流动因子;第四公因子为住院因子.4个公因子的累积方差贡献率达76.654%.结论 病床利用情况、诊断水平、病人流动情况和住院情况是医疗工作质量指标的主要影响因素,因子得分可以为医疗质量综合评价提供指导建议.     

Role of overcrowding in meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission: Bayesian network analysis for a single public hospital

The transmission of multiple antibiotic-resistant organisms (MROs) in hospitals is affected by many inter-related factors. These include the background prevalence of the organism (burden), hand hygiene, the efficiency of patient screening, the isolation or cohorting of carriers, the quality of hospital cleaning, and bed occupancy. In addition, the prevalence of one MRO may influence the transmission of another by occupying isolation beds, and thus reducing isolation resources for the latter. For example, the overuse of third generation cephalosporin antibiotics can increase extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, thus indirectly influencing the transmission of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In order to study this complex system of interrelationships, we have employed a Bayesian network. We report results of the first two years of analysis for a single public hospital. We conclude that, within this institution, the association between high bed occupancy and increased transmission of MRSA may be subject to a dynamic multidimensional threshold and tipping point. This may be influenced by other factors such as MRSA burden and whether the high bed occupancy interferes with preparation and cleaning of beds for new patients and with hand hygiene and efforts to isolate or cohort carriers.     

Cyclic fluctuations in hospital bed occupancy in Roma (Italy): supply or demand driven?

The objective of this study was to assess hospital bed occupancy both by planned and unplanned cases, and to assess how supply and demand affect bed occupancy. Data was obtained from the Lazio Hospital Information System (HIS) dataset on all hospital discharges from July 1998 to June 2001. Using Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) as the reason for hospital stay, admissions were classified into four categories: 'planned stay', 'presumed planned stay', 'presumed unplanned stay', and 'unplanned stay'. Time series analysis of daily bed occupancy by category of stay was performed. Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) were used to asses the effect of weekdays and holidays on bed occupancy. Fluctuations in daily occupancy were observed in all categories of stay-in general, bed occupancy decreased over weekends, on national holidays, and during the major holiday season of August. In comparison with unplanned stays, the largest fluctuations were observed for planned stays while presumed planned and unplanned stays showed lesser fluctuations. It is possible to distinguish planned and unplanned hospital stays by using DRG grouping. Cyclic rigidities in the supply of services rather than the availability of beds or demand for beds seem to dictate hospital use in Roma so that restrictions in services hamper any reallocation of beds for 'planned stay' when demand for 'unplanned stay' beds declines.     

矫正的病床综合工作效率指标的研制与应用

目的 针对传统的病床工作效率评价方法的缺陷,提出矫正的病床工作效率指标,为医院病床资源的合理配置提供技术支持。方法 资料来源于唐山市某综合医院2008年的医疗统计报表和绩效考核方案。用标准住院天数对病床综合效率指标进行矫正,并测算各科室的开放床位的可信区间。结果 各科室的病床工作效率存在较大差异,口腔科、ICU和儿科的效率最高。20个科室中病床设置合理的有6个科室,14个科室需要调整,其中需增加床位的有6个科室,需减少床位的有8个科室。结论 矫正的病床工作效率指标具有更广泛的适用范围,应探索应用单病种或病例分型的标准平均住院天数矫正病床工作效率。     

Using hospital activity indicators to evaluate performance in Andhra Pradesh, India

The performance of secondary level public hospitals in Andhra Pradesh. India was evaluated with the help of input-output ratios of hospital activity and service mix. Indicators for emergency, clinical, diagnostic and medico-legal services have been defined. Wide variability of global hospital activities was observed. Variability of turnover rate and bed occupancy was much more than length of stay. Combined utilization and productivity analysis showed that all outlying hospitals were either in the low turnover, low occupancy group or in the high turnover, high occupancy group. Low productivity or inadequate hospital capacity seem to be the major problems. All low turnover, low occupancy hospitals also had low levels of outpatient consultations, and high turnover, high occupancy hospitals had above-average outpatient activity. About 40 per cent of hospitals did not provide emergency services. About 10 per cent of hospitals were not performing any diagnostic tests. Strengthening emergency service delivery capacity, as well as diagnostic facilities, could improve productivity and capacity utilization. Extremes of turnover and occupancy were not associated with any particular case-mix pattern. Thus, neither poor productivity and capacity utilization nor over-crowding can be explained by case-mix differences. Problems of poor performance and inadequate capacity seem to be real.     

Using a queueing model to help plan bed allocation in a department of geriatric medicine

By integrating queuing theory and compartmental models of flow we demonstrate how changing admission rates, length of stay and bed allocation influence bed occupancy, emptiness and rejection in departments of geriatric medicine. By extending the model to include waiting beds, we show how the provision of extra, emergency use, unstaffed, back up beds could improve performance while controlling costs. The model is applicable to all lengths of stay, admission rates and bed allocations. The results show why 10–15% bed emptiness is necessary to maintain service efficiency and demonstrate how unstaffed beds can serve to provide a more responsive and cost effective service. Further work is needed to test the validity and applicability of the model.     

A study on bed utilization in the gynaecological ward of a district hospital in West Bengal

A study was conducted in a non-paying gynaecological ward of the district hospital, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal to assess different bed efficiency indicators. Total 331 patients were admitted in 23 study beds (12 OPD beds and 11 emergency beds) during an observation period of six months. Overall average number of admissions were 14.4 and average length of stay 14.7days. Bed turnover rate was 13.8 and was higher for emergency beds (22.1) compared to OPD beds (9). Bed occupancy rate was 61.3% with significant difference between OPD beds (57.5%) and emergency beds (65.4%).     

Scheduling admissions and reducing variability in bed demand

Variability in admissions and lengths of stay inherently leads to variability in bed occupancy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of these sources of variability on the required amount of capacity and to determine admission quota for scheduled admissions to regulate the occupancy pattern. For the impact of variability on the required number of beds, we use a heavy-traffic limit theorem for the G/G/∞ queue yielding an intuitively appealing approximation in case the arrival process is not Poisson. Also, given a structural weekly admission pattern, we apply a time-dependent analysis to determine the mean offered load per day. This time-dependent analysis is combined with a Quadratic Programming model to determine the optimal number of elective admissions per day, such that an average desired daily occupancy is achieved. From the mathematical results, practical scenarios and guidelines are derived that can be used by hospital managers and support the method of quota scheduling. In practice, the results can be implemented by providing admission quota prescribing the target number of admissions for each patient group.     

Modelling hospital and social care bed occupancy and use by elderly people in an English health district

The paper confirms that exponential equations can be used to model the total system and sub-systems of institutional health and social care for elderly people using bed occupancy census data for 6068 elderly aged 65 and over. Two streams of flow were present in NHS acute hospitals, Local Authority residential homes and independent sector nursing homes. Three streams of flow were present in the overall data set and in the NHS geriatric hospital beds, NHS psychiatry beds and independent sector residential care homes. In total 22% of patients/residents stayed an average of 24 days (short stay), 69% for 825 days (medium stay) and 9% for 3384 days (long stay). In both sexes, the older a patient/resident, the longer the time they occupied short stay beds and the shorter the time they occupied long stay beds.     

我国县级中医医院床位利用效率评价研究*

目的：分析我国县级中医医院的床位利用效率,为县级中医医院床位资源合理配置提供参考,推动县级中医医院合理建设,促进乡村医疗卫生体系健康发展。方法：利用秩和比法和床位利用模型对2019年全国不同床位规模的县级中医医院床位利用效率进行分析。结果：秩和比法分档结果显示,500~799床规模的县级中医医院位于上等,其余床位规模均位于中等;床位利用模型分析结果显示,300床以下规模的县级中医医院为床位闲置型,800~999床规模为压床型,300~499 床、500~799床、1 000~1 500床规模为床位效率型。结论：（1） 县级中医医院总体床位利用效率有待提升;（2） 300~499 床县级中医医院床位利用效率较好,有利于拓展县域中医医疗体系服务功能;（3） 300床以下县级中医医院床位利用效率较低,亟需各级政府加大关注。     

Bed occupancy in emergency hospitalization of patients

When planning the average number of bed occupancy days per year at a hospital providing emergency hospitalization one should take into account the demurrage of reserve beds which are needed for urgent hospitalization of patients. The influence of emergency demurrage of reserve beds on occupancy rate is not determined by the absolute number of these beds and their share in the structure of hospital bed fund. The number of reserve beds depends on the number of emergency patients hospitalized and the average length of hospital stay.