Hospital surge capacity refers to the ability to handle sudden and possibly dramatic increases in health care demand, such as the increase in demand experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, a natural disaster, or a mass casualty event. This research examines how rural inpatient capacity has changed over time.
One method of assessing surge capacity is to examine a hospital’s typical number of unoccupied beds. On an average day in 2022, the average rural hospital had 24 unoccupied acute care beds, accounting for approximately 66% of the hospital’s total acute care beds. Although these numbers have decreased slightly from 2018 (26 unoccupied beds accounting for approximately 67% of total beds), the findings suggest that surge capacity, as measured by unoccupied beds, has not dramatically changed in recent years.
Access the report: Changes in Bed-Based Measures of Surge Capacity from 2018 to 2022 Among Rural and Urban Hospitals.