Daily Census at New York City Hospitals Now Level, After Decreasing for Last Decade, Study Says

Following a decade of steep decline in the 1990s, the number of patients staying in New York City hospitals on an average day has "leveled off" and even shows "signs of rising," according to a new study by the not-for-profit health research group the United Hospital Fund, the New York Times reports. According to the report, New York City's hospital census peaked in 1987, with 30,000 people admitted on an average day, then dropped 33% to 20,000 in 1999. During the same period, the national average daily census fell 16%, the Times reports. The average daily census in New York City hospitals increased slightly in 2000 and 2001, and the census for the first half of 2002 is about 20,000, the report says. The nationwide daily hospital census rose 3% from 1999 to 2002, marking the first substantial increase in 20 years, the Times reports. The report notes that the apparently stable census figures for New York City hospitals is because of the increasing city population and an increasing number of people receiving inpatient surgeries. For example, the number of patients receiving coronary angioplasties and stomach bypass procedures nearly tripled in the 1990s, and the number of patients undergoing knee and hip replacement surgeries rose by almost 50% in that time period. United Hospital Fund President James Tallon, said, "There were two conflicting sets of trends, one up and one down, but the downward trend lines [in daily census] were so dramatic that until they leveled off a few years ago, they really masked the upward ones." According to the Times, hospital officials expect that the daily census will have slow, steady growth in the next few years, as aging baby boomers require more inpatient care. Pamela Brier, chief operating officer of the Brooklyn-based Maimonides Medical Center, said that increasing daily census does not necessarily mean better financial conditions for hospitals, adding, "The patients we're seeing are, on the whole, much sicker than those we saw 10 years ago. That, combined with the continued pressure to cut costs, does not spell good news" (Perez-Pena, New York Times, 2/24). The report is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report.