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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8 theories why hospital census is low

I brought up a while back about how low our census has been. I'm talking extremely low. No one has been laid off yet that I know, but many have been losing hours.

It used to be that business would go in cycles. The ER would be busy during vacation season in the summer, yet we'd have fewer patients admitted.

In the winter it would be the opposite, with fewer ER visits and more elective surgeries and more critical patients being admitted.

Not anymore. I think we've been relatively slow for two straight years, and the past six months we've been so slow it's almost getting to the point we need to worry about losing more hours, and thus burning vacation hours when we don't want to.

So why is it that business is so slow lately. I have a few theories. Perhaps you can add to these:

1. It used to be that cardiac patients were given TPA and then they'd sit in our CCU beds for 4 days. Then they'd go for a cath. the new policy is for a cath to be done ASAP, so all cardiac patients are simply shipped right from the ER.

2. With the economy so bad, no patients are having elective surgeries.

3. With the economy so bad, many potential patients are without insurance. Since they have no insurance they are not coming into the hospital unless they are really sick.

4. Many ER docs are all relatively new to this hospital and may not fully comprehend that we are capable of taking some of the patients they are shipping out.

5. People going elsewhere for their care. People think there are better surgeons and nurses at other hospitals, when that's not necessarily the truth.

6. With the economy of Michigan being the 2nd worse in the U.S., people are moving out of this area. Thus, with a lower population, fewer patients can be expected.

7. DRs are simply not admitting for things they used to admit you for, especially when they know they aren't going to do anything here that you can't do at home.

8. We are doing such a great job with our medical wisdom and new medicines and education that patients stay healthier and don't need to visit us.

A great example of this is asthma. In the 1980s there were plenty of asthmatics to go around. Now we seem to have hardly any asthmatic patients.

As a former asthmatic kid myself, I thought it would be neat to be an RT and work with asthmatic kids. There simply aren't any kids with asthma being admitted.

So these are just some of my theories. I have no idea if it's just this hospital being hit with the low census, or all small town hospitals. I have no idea if larger hospitals have this issue, however I would like to say I doubt it.

If you guys have any theories you'd like to add here, please feel free to leave a comment because my curiosity is peaked.