The latest Hospital Statistics, RT and RN statistics

Here are some general statistics regarding the healthcare profession.  For statistics regarding the respiratory therapy profession, see below.

The following statistics are according to the American Hospital Association (AHA):

• Number of registered hospitals in the U.S...................5,795
• Total number of registered beds...................................944,277
• Total admissions..............................................................37,479,709
• Total expenses.................................................................$726,671,229,000

The trend in health care spending has increased exponentially since 1965 (see graph). Total health expenditures were:

• $41.6 billion in 1964
• $75.2 billion in 1970
• $232.9 billion in 1975
• $250.1 billion in 1980
• $420.1 billion in 1985
• $666.2 billion in 1990
• $1,101.9 billion in 1995
• $1,739.8 billion in 2000
• $7,681 billion in 2010 (16.2% of GNP)

Total cost of health care according to KaiserEDU.org:

• $253 billion in 1980
• $714 billion in 1990
• $2.3 trillion in 2008
• Total health care expenditures grew at annual rate of 4.4% in 2008 (slower than recent years, yet outpacing inflation and national income)
• Since 1991, employer sponsored health coverage has increased 131%, placing increased burden on employers and workers
• Medicare and Medicaid spending has increased 6.8-7.1% per year from 1998 to 2008, a little slower than the rate of private insurance spending

According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), here's how U.S. heathcare 2008 dollars were spent (see graph )

• 31% hospital care (down from 40% in 1995 NHS stats)
• 21% doctor and clinic services (same as 1995)
• 10% prescription drugs
• 7% administration
• 7% investment
• 6% nursing home care (down from 7% in 1995)
• 6% other professional services
• 4% dental
• 3% gov't public health activities
• 3% other retail projects
• 3% home health

Why the cost of healthcare costs?
Who has healthcare coverage (% below will be greater than 100 because some people have more than one insurance coverage and are approximated):

• 86% of U.S. population has healthcare coverage
• 75% of those covered have private healthcare insurance
• 61% with private insurance are covered through employers
• 13% with private insurance purchase their own insurance
• 13% of population has insurance through Medicare
• 10% of population has insurance through Medicaid
• 4% of population has insurance through military or veterans programs
• 17% of population has no health insurance (up from 14% in 1995) This is about 50 million people.
• Under insured has grown 60% bankruptcies are due to medical expenses

The following facts regarding hospital admissions from the AHA:

• 35 million people are admitted to a hospital each day
• 118 million are treated in emergency rooms each day
• 481 million other outpatient services per day
• Hospitals deliver 4 million babies per year
• In 2006, hospitals provided $35 billion of services that were not reimbursed
• Hospitals employ more than 5 million people
• Hospitals are the 2nd largest private sector employers (behind restraunts)
• When accounting for hospital purchases of goods and services from other businesses, hospitals support 1 in every 10 jobs in the U.S.
• Thus, hospitals account for $1.9 trillion in economic activity
• 1/3 of hospitals lose money on operations
• Hospitals operating margins (money left over after paying costs) were 4.0 in 2006, down from 4.6% in 1996 prior to the balanced budget Act of 1997.
• Medicare and Medicaid paid for 55% of care provided by hospitals
• 64% of hospitals are paid less than cost of services provided by Medicare services
• The Medicare funding shortfall exceeds $18 billion
• Hospitals receive 86 cents for each dollar spent on a Medicaid patient
• 76% of hospitals are paid less than cost of services provided by Medicaid services
• The Medicaid funding shortfall exceeds $11 billion
• Medicaid and Medicare shortfalls have been found to add costs (12% in California) to private insurance programs to make up for the shortfall
• 47% of hospitals reported their emergency rooms were at or exceeded full capacity
• 56% of hospitals transport overflow patients to other hospitals
• There are 116,000 nurse vacancies
• By 2020 it's estimated there will be a nursing shortage of 1 million nurses

Nursing statistics from Minority Nurse:

• There are 2,909, 357 registered nurses in the U.S. (2010 statistics)
• Approximately 168,181 registered nurses are men
• Only 8% of nurses are under 30
• 30.1% of male nurses are under 40
• 26.1% of female nurses are under 40
• 65.7% of male nurses are under 50
• 57.4% of female nurses are under 50
• 56.2% of all RNs work for hospitals
• 10.7% of nurses work in community/public health community
• Average salary of full time nurses is $57,785
• Average salary for nurses with a Master's degree is $74,377
• Nurse practitioners average $70,581

Respiratory Therapy Statistics according to the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) and National Board of Respiratory Care (NBRC):

• There are 105,900 RTs working in the U.S.
• 75% of RTs work in the hospital setting
• 48 states regulate the practice of respiratory therapy
• Employment of RTs is expected to grow 19% from 2006 to 2016, or 211% from 2008-2018 (faster than average for all occupations)
• 25% reported making $7e,000 or more
• 50% reported making $60,000 or more
• 25% reported making $48,000 or less
• New RTs reported earning $42,078 to $42, 497
• Median annual wages for RTs was $52,200 in 2008
• The middle 50 percent earned between $44,490 and $61,720
• The lowest 10 percent earned less than $37,920
• The highest 10 percent earned more than $69,800.

Overall hospital workers (stats from ehow.com:

• The U.S. Department of Labor estimates there are over 700 different job categories in teh healthcare industry
• 661,000 doctors in the U.S. as of 2008 American Bureau of Labor Statistics (ABLS).Most doctors earn more than $150,000 annually
• Anesthesiologist mean salary $197,570 or $94.99 per hour (ABLS)
• Internists make $176,740 per year, or $84.90 per hour (ABLS)
• Family Practitionars make $161,490 annually or $77.64 per hour (ABLS)
• Obstetritians and Gynecologists make $192,780 annually or $92.68 per hour (ABLS)
• Pediatritians make $153,370 annually, or $73.74 per hour (ABLS)
• Surgeons make $206,770 annually or $99.41 per hour (ABSS)
• Psychiatrists make $154,050 annually or $74.06 per hour (ABLS)

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Here's a great con to Nationalized Healthcare

Here is one very good reason I am against a nationalized health care system. I discussed with my boss yesterday about the budget. He said his bosses want him to come up with "everything and anything" ideas for further cutting the budget.

He asked me, "Any ideas."

I said, "Create a treatment protocol so we can get rid of all the breathing treatments that are not needed. That would save us a ton of money." (To learn how much money this would actually save our hospital, click here.)

He said, "Rick, you should be happy just to have a job. We need all the procedures right now we can get."

Here's something to consider. The hospital does not get paid by the government per procedure completed, it gets one flat rate for the patent's stay. So, the fewer procedures done while the patient is admitted the more money the hospital would make.

Thus, if Shoreline Medical Center could come up with a protocol to prevent doctors from giving an asthma/COPD medicine just because a patient is short of breath or sounds bad or looks funny (or to prevent bronchodilator abuse), that would save the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

What I understand here is that when it comes to cutting the hospital's budget my boss only thinks in terms of his own wallet, while ignoring the wallet of everyone else. What he fails to understand (what many people seem to misunderstand these days) is the government's wallet is OUR money too.

My boss is afraid if we get a protocol, the number of procedures in our department will go down, and someone will lose his or her job. It seems to me many hospital bosses would prefer the procedure than to prevent government waste.

Yes government reform is needed, but not in the direction the current House, Senate and Executive Branch visions. The change we need is to provide an incentive for hospital admins to spend the government's money as wisely as it spends it's own.

As the old saying goes: people are more likely to spend their own money wisely, yet when it comes to spending someone else's money, they appear to be less wise (or is that a saying I just made up). Anyway, it's true.

Feel free to discuss because, as always, I could be mistaken.

(Other than the links above, for more of my opinion on Nationalized Healthcare, click here.)