A new study finds Michigan and the rest of the U.S. are trending toward a national hospital bed shortage.
According to the study appearing in JAMA Network Open, U.S. hospital bed occupancy rates rose 11% in the past decade to 75%. The percentage is slightly higher in Michigan, according to the study of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources.
Hospital closings and staffing shortages are cited as reasons for rising hospital bed occupancy rates. Researchers say hospitalization rates are relatively unchanged over the same period.
If unchecked, the study found the bed shortage could reach a critical level by 2032, as the nation’s population ages and demand for hospital care increases.
Dr. Richard Leuchter is an assistant professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's lead investigator.
He said, as hospitals approach an 85% occupancy rate, the quality of care will be affected.
“Delays in care, wait times increase, we might start to see more medical errors and unfortunately we may also see unexpected and unnecessary deaths resulting from these things,” said Leuchter.
While at first it may appear that the answer is more beds, Leuchter said hiring more nurses would be a key first step to head off the problem.
“We might have plenty of beds,” said Leuchter. “We just don’t have the nursing staff and other health care staff to be able to open up and to be actually use the beds, that’s a much quicker fix and more cost-effective fix than building new hospitals.”
Michigan hospital industry leaders have some questions about the findings of the study.
John Karasinski is a spokesman for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.
He said Michigan hospitals have been successfully working to decrease job vacancies.
“Hospitals are implementing tactics that include offering better pay, improved benefits and expanding educational opportunities for students to consider a nursing career to help reduce vacancies and to safely staff their facilities,” said Karasinski in a written statement.
