Background: Through the years of improving quality health service delivery, hospital bed capacity in the Philippines has remained to be a persistent challenge. In light of the aim of the Universal Health Care Act to protect and promote the right to health of every Filipino, one metric used to identify areas that are in most need or are under served, is the number of public hospital beds vis a vis the catchment population. Methods: The systematic review of literature was utilized to generate a policy brief presented to the invited stakeholders of the policy issue for the roundtable discussion participated by all key stakeholders of the policy issue. Evidence and insights were thematically analyzed to generate consensus policy recommendations. Results: With the current hospital bed availability and maldistribution, the Philippines still faces compounded issues in addressing healthcare demands. Currently, the request for increasing bed capacity is done through legislation. In context, this request is also parallel in expanding service capacity through the allocation of more funds and personnel. The ratio of private and charity beds must ensure to have equity among all patients of varying segments of the population. Enjoining private hospitals to share bed capacity for public service was also explored given appropriate subsidies. Conclusion and Recommendation To ensure equity in health service delivery, it is imperative to assess, strategize, and conduct prioritization of the needs of government hospitals for increased bed capacity, considering the distribution, socio-demographic profile, and health needs of the catchment population.
Privatization ; Philippines ; Hospital Bed Capacity

PURPOSE: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is recognized as a major concern not only because it is associated with patient dissatisfaction, but also because it impinges on quality of care. The goal of this study is to evaluate the mid-term effects of hospital bed capacity expansion on overcrowding in the emergency department for two years. METHODS: This was a pre-post study conducted using administrative data from the ED. On May 1st, 2011, the hospital licensed beds were expanded from 1150 to 1300. Data from one year of the pre-expansion period (May 1st, 2010 to April 30th, 2011) and two years of post-expansion were divided into two periods; early period and late period were included for this analysis. In these periods, we calculated the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale (NEDOCS) and occupancy rate at the same time of every day. The main outcomes included length of stay (LOS) in the ED and NEDOCS. RESULTS: A total of 177,766 patients were included. The mean number of daily ED patients was increased; 156.3+/-32.5 in the pre-expansion period, 162.5+/-32.5 and 167.9+/-32.4 in the early and late post-expansion periods, respectively (p<0.001). In multivariate linear regression analysis, hospital bed expansion, the number of admission hold patients, age, number of admission patients and operating rate of hospital beds showed association with mean ED LOS (coefficient=-82.9, 2.7, 6.4, 11.4 and 5.4 respectively, R2=0.628, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Expansion of hospital beds could be helpful in resolving ED overcrowding for at least two years.
Bed Occupancy ; Crowding ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Linear Models ; Tertiary Care Centers*

This paper was aimed to find an efficient plan for the arrangement of the beds in hospitals so that the bed-operating efficiency could be raised and the requirements of patients could be perfectly met. After analyzing the data using the method of mathematical statistics, we defined the concept of "Waste Index". In addition to the concept, we realized the auto-simulation of the model using the dynamic programming model, and design the program by MATLAB. We got the characteristics of bed-occupation conditions by data analysis. We obtained the result of optimizing model by programming and the most efficient plan which was obviously better than the traditional FCFS (First Come First Serve) plan. It can be well concluded that the mathematical model should be of great maneuverability in the practical situation to ameliorate the management efficiency of hospital beds considerably.
China ; Efficiency, Organizational ; Hospital Administration ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Ophthalmology ; Patient Admission

Regional hub neonatal intensive care centers are opening supported by Ministry of Health and Welfare, with the need for more neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds response to increasing number of prematurity. Besides beds expansion, functional role of NICU is important and the evaluation tool of functional analysis of NICU is necessary. In this review, admission of preterm infant born before 32 gestational weeks was considered as a functional component and the annual number of those babies was used as an activity marker. The activity of NICU was higher with increased bed number, but also increased equipment, NICU personnel, obstetric personnel were independent factors for the higher NICU activity. Levels of NICU can be defined according to the activity, and reference bed size, equipment, personnel can be defined according to each level. In reverse, functional analysis of NICU can be performed with known bed size or equipment predicting activity level. Meanwhile, the evaluation of 13 regional hub NICU revealed that they partially contributed to the regionalization of NICU, and the activity was increased in all regional hub NICUs. Three regional hub NICUs showed markedly increased activity after opening, and those centers showed increased NICU personnel and obstetric personnel compared to other centers. In terms of regional hub government support, multilateral plan should be operated, besides simple bed size, considering distribution of different functional level of regional NICUs and leaking patient in the region.
Hospital Bed Capacity ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Intensive Care, Neonatal

Service diversification is recognized as an important strategy against turbulent environmental change. This study is designed to find out the trend of service diversification in Korean health care organizations and also to identify factors associated with the degree of service diversification. Data were collected from 69 hospitals out of 71 hospitals with over 300 beds. Important findings are summarized below. 1. Types of diversification are closely related to hospital size. Large hospitals have a tendency to provide sophisticated service requiring specialized skills and equipment, while small hospital have concentrated their efforts on health screening programs. 2. The more competitive and bigger hospitals are, the greater number of services that provide. Also, hospitals operating rational management information systems provide more services. Contrary to the expectation, hospitals with a low performance during last 3 years showed more service diversification. 3. A trend of more diversification was observed in hospitals whose chief executive officer used a prospector strategy. 4. A multiple regression analysis revealed that bed size, competitive environment, degree of rational management, and the growth pattern were significantly associated with teh service diversification.
Delivery of Health Care ; Health Facility Size ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Management Information Systems ; Mass Screening

OBJECTIVE: To construct prediction model for health workforce and hospital beds in county hospitals of Hunan by multiple linear regression. METHODS: We surveyed 16 counties in Hunan with stratified random sampling according to uniform questionnaires,and multiple linear regression analysis with 20 quotas selected by literature view was done. RESULTS: Independent variables in the multiple linear regression model on medical personnels in county hospitals included the counties' urban residents' income, crude death rate, medical beds, business occupancy, professional equipment value, the number of devices valued above 10 000 yuan, fixed assets, long-term debt, medical income, medical expenses, outpatient and emergency visits, hospital visits, actual available bed days, and utilization rate of hospital beds. Independent variables in the multiple linear regression model on county hospital beds included the the population of aged 65 and above in the counties, disposable income of urban residents, medical personnel of medical institutions in county area, business occupancy, the total value of professional equipment, fixed assets, long-term debt, medical income, medical expenses, outpatient and emergency visits, hospital visits, actual available bed days, utilization rate of hospital beds, and length of hospitalization. CONCLUSION The prediction model shows good explanatory and fitting, and may be used for short- and mid-term forecasting.
China ; Forecasting ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Hospitals, County ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Models, Theoretical ; Workforce

The purpose of this study was to examine the trends of length of hospital stay (LOS), which is most likely to be a major attribute to hospital performance From 1984 to 1994, an average LOS of each hospital was analyzed by factors such as medical departments, bed size, occupancy rate, region and ownership. This study was analyzed changing rate of LOS during 11 years. This rate was calculated by simple regression, which was used only with hospital without missing data during 11 years. This study findings are as follows. 1. The results indicated that the average LOS was steadily increased until 1990 but it was slightly decreased after 1990. 2. This trend could be found in all hospital scale and all group of occupancy rate. Specifically this trends of LOS were found in internal medicine, corporate owned hospitals, and hospitals in major city. But LOS of individual owned hospital was continuously increased until 1994. 3. Means of changing rates of LOS were calculated from 1984 to 1994. If we divided it into two parts, before 1990 and after 1990, most changing rates of LOS before 1990 except individual owned hospital were found positive sign. The changing rates after 1990 were negative sign but small hospital(lesser then 200 bed), individual owned hospital, national & public hospital and hospital in small urban have little change of LOS after 1990. Finally from this results we thought that most hospitals in korea began to be concerned with LOS. Nevertheless LOS of several hospital such as small hospital or individual owned hospital was increased. And this trend may be caused by a few patients, low occupancy rate, or low profit. This trend of LOS is different from that of other countries. Perhaps this phenomenon is resulted from the reimbursement method. Because of fee for service reimbursement system in korea the hospitals didn't need to shorten LOS in order to save the cost and increase the profit. Therefore reform of hospital cost reimbursement method will be reduced to reduce hospital cost in korea. we thought that the korean health authority should consider the reimbursement method by unit of bundle of services, for example DRG and prepayment in the united states. This study presents some limitations such as on insight of severity of disease, case-mix measurement of hospital, and other clinical characteristics that can possibly affect LOS, However, this study reports an important trend in LOS from 1984 to 1994.
Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Fee-for-Service Plans ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Hospital Costs ; Hospitals, Public ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Korea* ; Length of Stay* ; Ownership ; United States

PURPOSE: This study was performed to give direction to quality improvement strategies of nursing services by comparing the differences in quality perceptions and satisfaction for nursing services between patients and nurses in small-medium sized general hospitals with 200 beds. METHOD: The subjects, who were 150 inpatients and 162 nurses of 4 general hospitals in a community, answered a self-report questionnaire with a SERVQUAL scale. RESULT: There were differences between patients' and nurses' expectations and perceptions of nursing service and satisfaction. In the service expectation, the highest factor was 'the responsiveness', and in the perceived performance, the highest was the 'assurance'. In addition, overall patients' perceptions on nursing services showed higher than nurses'. There were positive correlations among the expectations and perceptions on nursing service, and satisfaction. The correlation between perception and satisfaction was higher than the correlation between expectations and satisfaction. CONCLUSION: To improve the nursing service quality at small-medium hospitals, strengthening the 'assurance' factor and improving the nursing service support system is needed. Also, this study on nurses' perceived nursing service at small-medium sized hospitals should be duplicated.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Female ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; *Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nursing Services/*standards ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*psychology ; *Patient Satisfaction ; *Quality of Health Care

INTRODUCTIONBased on the estimate results of the capacity and preparedness of Beijing hospitals to respond to pandemic influenza, using flu surge model to evaluate its applicable hypothesis and to provide government with sentient strategy in planning pandemic influenza. Through collection of medical resources information, we calculated the possible impaction on hospitals by Flu Surge model and explored the applicable hypothesis in model operation through a questionnaire, direct observation and group discussion in 3 hospitals in Beijing. Based on flu surge model estimation during a 6-week epidemic from a pandemic virus with 35% attack rate, Beijing would have had an estimation of 5 383 000 influenza illnesses, 2 691 500 influenza outpatients, 76 450 influenza hospitalizations and 14 508 excess deaths. For a 6-week period with 35% attack rate, there would be a peak demand for 8% of beds, 210% of ICU beds, and 128% of ventilators estimated. Outpatients in different level hospital were quite disproportionated with 1742/ hospital/day, 650/hospital/day, and 139/hospital/day respectively. The sampled health workers had a mastery of 63.4% of the total knowledge and skills of diagnosing and treating of influenza, 73.5% of them washed their hands and 63.5% used PPE correctly. The total beds capacity, medical beds capacity and respiratory medical beds capacity would increase 8%, 35% and 128% respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe estimation results could be referenced when planning the pandemic strategy, but the results should be treated objectively when considering the hypothesis and practical situation in this model being used.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Disease Outbreaks ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Hospital Planning ; Hospitalization ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Influenza, Human ; epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Statistical ; Surge Capacity ; Young Adult

The aim of this study is to analyze the variations among hospitals and hospital groups in resource use and procedures of diagnostic and therapeutic process, such as laboratory tests, radiologic examinations, tissue diagnosis, timing of surgery after admission, the time required for operation. The study was performed for five procedures including cesarean section(C/S), appendectomy, cholecystectomy, cataract extraction, and pediatric pneumonia. The 2,316 subjects were selected from medical insurance claims list, and from this list 413 cases were sampled for medical record review. The patterns of resource utilization and process of treatment were described according to hospitals and characteristics of hospital groups. The major results were as follows: 1. The numbers of laboratory and radiologic tests showed significant difference among hospitals and hospital groups. In case of hospital groups, we could find tendencies of more tests with increasing hospital bed size. 2. In general, the proportion of operative cases evaluated by tissue diagnosis postoperatively among all operations ranged from 28.3% to 1005. The proportion varied among hospital groups, of which general hospital A group(more than 15 specially) showed the highest proportion. 3. Post-admission delay until operation and the time required for operative procedure were not invariable among hospitals and hospital groups. The duration of operation in tertiary hospitals was slightly shorter than general hospitals, with varying statistical significance. We could find that probably there were differences of quality among hospitals in some components of procedures, which suggested that the implementation of quality assurance activities would be mandatory. In this study, we simply described the patterns of resource utilization and some features of clinical process, with institution of the need for advanced studies with in-depth analyses for each component of diagnosis and treatment procedures.
Appendectomy ; Cataract Extraction ; Cholecystectomy ; Diagnosis ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Hospitals, General ; Insurance ; Medical Records ; Pneumonia ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Utilization Review