An Unusual Problem: San Diego Has Too Many Hospital Beds
Not only do regions with extra beds experience competitive pressures that drive health care systems out of business, but they could also produce an incentive for clinicians to admit more patients and perform more procedures than necessary.
inewsource:
Does San Diego County Have Enough Patients For Its New Hospital Beds?
A potential threat to the San Diego region’s health and its ability to control medical costs might come as a surprise: a glut of hospital beds. The region's acute care bed count as of 2013 numbered 5,824, which was 2,284 more beds than the region's population will need by 2020, and 1,577 more than needed by 2030, according to the California Health Care Foundation's report "Beds for Boomers" issued last year. Not until 2040 would demand for beds come close to matching the region's supply.But an inewsource analysis shows the gap is even greater than the report’s chart suggests. (Clark, 10/6)