Experts caution a disaster is expected to strike the US in 2032

Experts warn that in a decade time, US hospitals might be operating at near capacity, with hospital occupancy becoming a raising issue in the country.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the average hospital occupancy nationwide was 64 percent. That number has increased to 75 and researchers expect it to rise by another 10 percent in less than ten years’ time.

This can easily lead to deadly consequences due to issues such as long waiting time in emergency departments.

Dr. Richard Leuchter, assistant professor of medicine at UCLA Health, said in a statement, “We’ve all heard about increased hospital occupancy during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but these findings show that hospitals are as full, if not more so, than they were during the pandemic, even well into 2024 during what would be considered a post-pandemic steady state.”

A study published in the journal JAMA Network Open modeled future hospital occupancy scenarios through 2035 using data from the period between August 2020 and April 2024 with national hospitalization rates and the U.S. Census Bureau’s official population projections.

Dr. Leuchter argued that in case this projection becomes a reality and the national hospital occupancy reaches 85 percent or greater, as some research suggest, “it is likely that we would see tens to hundreds of thousands of excess American deaths each year.”

Authorities may consider undertaking preventive measures to avoid a potential hospital bed crisis in the country. Some can possibly include prevention of hospital bankruptcies and closures “partly by revamping hospital reimbursement schemes and regulating private equity involvement in healthcare; addressing factors driving staffing shortages such as provider burnout, and changing policy to expand the pipelines of healthcare professionals.”

“In the slightly longer term, we need more innovative care delivery models that can reduce hospitalizations by diverting would-be admissions to specially-designed acute care clinics,” Dr. Leuchter said.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Monica Pop
Monica Pop
Monica Pop is a senior writer for Bored Daddy magazine covering the latest trending and popular articles across the United States and around the world.

More from author

Related posts

Latest posts

Parents file lawsuit against teacher over 11-year-old son’s suicide

Louis Johnson III, “LJ,” was 11 years old when he took his own life on April 27, 2023. Two years after his tragic passing,...

‘Little Albert’: child subject of historic study died at just six

Nobel Prize winner Ivan Pavlov, a Russian neurologist, demonstrated conditioned learning—also known as a conditioned reflex—by conducting an experiment involving dogs and a bell....

Major update in Madeleine McCann case after police find hard drive with ‘sick pictures’

Madeleine McCann went missing 17 years ago from an apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, while her parents were out having dinner. Her...

Inside Barron Trump’s ‘very close’ relationship with his grandpa

Barron Trump's life has always been more private than the public would like. Being the son of a business mogul, his life has always...

4 types of people who should avoid eating cabbage

Despite being relatively cheap and easy to cook, cabbage is also packed with vitamin C, fiber, and vitamin K, making it a stapple in...

When a lizard visits your house that’s a sign

It is not unusual to see lizards roaming around the garden or on the walls because these tiny reptiles love busking in the sun,...