Nearly 1 in 7 medical surgical beds in Massachusetts are occupied by patients who no longer need acute care, the state's hospital association found in a newly published report.
Discharge delays are to blame and result in system "clogs" that prevent patients who do need acute care from getting it in a timely manner, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association stated in a June 12 news release.
"This backlog of stuck patients is playing a major role in driving up wait times and obstructing access to care," Steve Walsh, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said in a statement. "We saw a tremendous level of collaboration across healthcare throughout COVID-19, and it will take that same level of focus to resolve capacity issues."
Addressing patient flow throughout their care continuum and improving hospital capacity issues will be key to paving a path forward, the association says.
"The patient throughput problem is the result of many factors, including workforce shortages at post-acute care facilities, the lack of guardianship or healthcare proxy designations that make it difficult to get approvals for transfers and the need for specialized services, including transportation services between care settings," the report states.
Other notable findings from the report include:
- Patients may wait up to six months for a post-acute bed to become available.
- Although COVID-19 cases are down, MHA's data shows that demand for post-acute bed placement is rising and varies little month to month.
- Private insurance administrative barriers, delayed responses from insurers and denial of authorization requests for post-acute care were cited as the No.1 cause of patient discharge delays in Massachusetts. Staffing and capacity issues were second.