Stays in Hospital Fewer as System of Care Changes
Hospitalizations in the United States have fallen to the lowest level in 15 years as clinics and outpatient programs serve more and more people, government statistics released Tuesday indicated.
There were 148 hospital stays for every 1,000 Americans last year, the first year since 1971 that the rate was below 150 per 1,000 people, the National Center for Health Statistics reported.
“The rate has been coming down dramatically,” said Robert Pokras of the agency’s Division of Hospital Care Statistics.
Growing use of outpatient services and introduction of the Diagnosis Related Group method of payment were among the reasons for the decline, health statistician Edmund Graves said.
Under the diagnosis program, federal payments to hospitals are flat fees based on the nature of the illness, rather than on the length of the patient’s hospital stay or the services performed.
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