A new report from state health officials says hospitals are continuing to see declines in inpatient stays and emergency-room visits.
The 2018 Statewide Healthcare Facilities and Services Plan by the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) said the total number of inpatient days across Connecticut hospitals fell by 7,500 between fiscal years 2016 and 2017, the most recently reported year.
That continues a trend over recent years, as inpatient days have plummeted by about 3.6 percent since 2013, or by more than 118,000 days, OHS says.
Meanwhile, emergency department visits are also in a downward spiral, with hospitals reporting just over 1.5 million visits in 2017, down 2.9 percent, or 47,432 visits, vs. 2016.
Hospitals also discharged about 3,300 fewer patients in 2017 compared to 2016. Medicaid and Medicare patients made up about two-thirds of discharges in the five-year period.
Part of the reason for that was that opioid-related inpatient discharges fell by 8.5 percent, to a total of 1,540 discharges. However, opioid-related emergency department visits rose slightly.
Preventable hospitalizations, meaning inpatient stays that could have been avoided if conditions or illnesses were better managed by doctors and providers, remained stable from 2016 to 2017. Those occurrences accounted for more than 11 percent of all discharges, OHS said.
The report says that heart failure among adults is still the top preventable hospitalization condition and for kids it’s asthma.
OHS is required to submit the report, prepared by its Health Systems Planning Unit, every two years to provide insights on statewide healthcare trends.
Vicki Veltri, executive director of OHS, said the recent findings aren’t necessarily “good or bad news,” although the data does help quantify cost drivers including overuse of emergency departments.
“Strong health policy depends on good data; this report helps policymakers understand where we are now and how future legislative and regulatory decisions can make health care more accessible, more equitable and more affordable,” Veltri said.
Other OHS findings
OHS says the Yale New Haven Health system continued to have the most beds in state in 2017, with a total of 2,438 beds.
Trailing were Hartford HealthCare (1,968 beds), Trinity Health of New England (1,162), Western Connecticut Health Network (822), Prospect ECHN (794) and Ascension Health (520).
The occupancy rates of available beds was highest at Yale New Haven Hospital (81.2 percent), Bridgeport Hospital (79 percent) and Hartford Hospital (76.6 percent).
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