In December 2017, the Schroeder Center for Health Policy at William & Mary released its newest report detailing inpatient care provided in Virginia’s community hospitals. Inpatient Hospital Utilization in the Commonwealth of Virginia: 2016 Data Analysis describes nearly 844,000 hospitalizations in 2016 at 82 of Virginia’s acute, critical access, and children’s hospitals. The report provides a compendium of useful data and statistics to researchers, organizations, and others who are interested in the provision of healthcare in hospitals around the state. The report offers a statistical depiction of the characteristics of patients (their average age, sex, race/ethnicity), the most common types of conditions behind inpatient hospitalizations, and the source of payment for inpatient hospitalizations, among other types of information.
According to the report, inpatient hospitalizations at Virginia community hospitals in 2016 accounted for $33.2 billion in total charges. As was the case in 2015, adults between the ages of 65 and 84 represent the single largest age group of patients discharged from Virginia’s hospitals (237,440 discharges or 28% of all discharges). Nearly 52% of all non-obstetric hospitalizations are for females, and just under 64% of all hospitalizations are for white, non-Hispanic patients. About 23% of all hospitalizations are for black, non-Hispanic patients. Other findings from the report include:
• The most common conditions responsible for inpatient hospitalizations are childbirth, septicemia, osteoarthritis, mood disorders, and congestive heart failure. These five conditions alone account for nearly 27% of all hospitalizations in 2016.
• Chronic conditions account for 40% of all hospitalizations.
• Nearly 90% of all hospitalizations occurred at urban hospitals, which had, on average, longer lengths of stay and charges per stay compared to hospitalizations at rural hospitals.
• Nearly 62,000 hospitalizations in Virginia’s community hospitals are for mental health conditions, and these hospitalizations result in over $1.2 billion in hospital charges.
• Medicare is the primary source of payment for 40% of discharges and private insurance is the primary source of payment for 34% of discharges.
The report was produced by student researchers and staff at the Schroeder Center for Health Policy. Contributors include the following William & Mary undergraduate students: Kate Archambault (CAMS Applied Statistics, '18), Carmen Lehnigk (Economics, '19), and Yash Singh (Economics, '19).
For more information, and to download the full report, please visit the Schroeder Center for Health Policy website.
