Hospital Costs Up

Since World War II, mounting expenses have kept hospital administrators awake nights. This week in Hospitals, monthly journal of the American Hospital Association, the University of Chicago Clinics' Dr. Ray E. Brown explains how much, and why, the bills for hospitalization have grown in nine years. Some facts and figures:

P: Forced as never before to compete with industry for technicians and unskilled labor, the nation's top general hospitals have more than doubled wages, cut four hours off the work week (to 40 hours). While industry is cutting manpower needs per job with automation, new medical techniques have increased the need for hospital employees by 34% per patient. Result: the average daily cost to the patient has climbed 132%, from $9.39 to $21.76, or almost four times faster than prices in general. P: Increased efficiency has cut the average patient's stay in bed from 9.1 to 7.8 days, but intensified care and new techniques, e.g., blood chemistry tests and X rays, raise the average bill to $169.73, almost double the 1946 average. P: Although the annual total of patients per bed has gone up 11% in the nine years, rapid turnover has actually decreased the daily percentage of available beds in use. While demand for beds fluctuates widely, costly overhead remains the same. For example, 61 Chicago area hospitals reported that the percentage of maternity unit beds occupied ranged from 37% to 101% in one year, with the same full staff on hand throughout.

Administrator Brown sees little relief for patient or hospital in the immediate future. If they were to cut payroll, hospitals would lose competent people, lower efficiency, undermine the care of the sick. Predicts Brown: "Unless there is a [depression], we must expect hospital costs to continue to increase at about 5% annually for many years."

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