As Coronavirus Cases Surged This Fall, Admissions to Hospitals for Reasons Other Than COVID-19 Fell Markedly, Especially in the Midwest and West
Admissions to hospitals for non-COVID-19 reasons again fell sharply in November as cases of novel coronavirus infections rose again, suggesting more people are receiving care because of the epic health research, according to an updated analysis by Epic Health Research Aggravating Pandemic Delayed Network (EHRN) and KFF.
The latest decline is due to a sharp drop in nationwide approvals last spring following the outbreak of the pandemic, which was followed by a rebound in approvals in the summer. The analysis found that the most recent decline was steepest in the Midwest and West. In both regions, non-COVID-19 approvals at the end of November were around 76 percent of the forecast levels as COVID-19 cases increased in many parts of these regions.
This new analysis updates an October study and is based on EHRN electronic health records. It covers the entire volume of inpatient hospital admissions from December 31, 2017 to December 5, 2020, involving patients who were either discharged or who died on January 13, 2021. The data is aggregated weekly and aggregated by 34 US health organizations representing 97 hospitals in 26 states with 20 million patients.
Overall, non-COVID-19 hospital admissions fell to about 80 percent of the projected national level by the week ended December 5, 2020. Non-COVID-19 approvals hit a low of 63.4 percent of the forecast approvals in the week leading up to April 11, 2020, but had climbed back to 92 percent of the forecast values by midsummer.
The decline in hospital admissions from March 8 to December 5, 2020 corresponded to 8.5 percent of the total expected admissions for the entire year 2020. The total number of admissions was 8.9 percent below the volume forecast for the entire year.
The federal government is providing additional financial support to hospitals and other providers in order to survive the decline in the use of health care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes grants to hospitals from the $ 178 billion Provider Relief Fund and a 20 percent increase in Medicare inpatient reimbursement for COVID-19 patients.
The decline in non-COVID-19 approvals also suggests that people may be delaying care in ways that could be detrimental to their long-term health. Health service spending decreased in 2020. Other studies have documented decreases in emergency room visits, and screenings for breast, cervical and colon cancer were well below expected levels. The effects of this lack of care will be an important topic for future studies.
The full analysis as well as further data and analyzes on the COVID-19 pandemic can be found at kff.org.
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