Minnesota hospitals say 65,000 days of care were avoidable if patients had somewhere to go

Feb 01, 20240

RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII, Star Tribune file, Star Tribune count

Patients were treated in hallways and on gurneys in the emergency department at St. John's Hospital in Maplewood in 2022. Overcrowding in hospitals has created delays and left patients waiting in ERs.

One in six days of inpatient care is unnecessary now in Minnesota hospitals - a level of inefficiency that is causing backlogs in emergency departments and leaving patients waiting hours to receive treatment.

The Minnesota Hospital Association issued that finding Wednesday after surveying 101 hospitals across the state and discovering that a backlog, which emerged during the pandemic, is becoming a permanent problem. Patients spent 65,000 more days in inpatient hospital beds than needed in the five-month period ending in October - after the COVID public health emergency had ended.

"We cannot have this become the new normal for our patients across the state and in all of our communities," said Dr. Rahul Koranne, president and chief executive of the trade group for the state's hospitals. "The sheer magnitude of the number of patients stuck up in the [hospital] units is immense and it is backing up the entire system."

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-hospitals-say-65000-days-of-care-were-avoidable-if-patients-had-somewhere-to-go/600340025/