NHs with a Low Available Bed Capacity in the United States
Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, California, West Virginia, New York and Rhode Island are the seven states in the United States with the lowest (20% and under) average available Nursing Home (NH) bed (Medicare-certified) capacity. Here is the county-by-county analysis within these states.
For a higher-level analysis across the country, please see the previous article https://sites.google.com/view/numiny/blog/nursing-homes-how-fast-can-you-discharge-the-patients?authuser=0; for an analysis on the concentration of the elderly population in the country, visit https://sites.google.com/view/numiny/blog/strategies-in-population-health-management?authuser=0
Counties in the United States with "Acute" NH bed availability
Most "Acute" situation for available bed capacity is when the average available bed capacity is in single digit percentages. There are 60 counties in these seven states (table on the left) with the lowest capacity for available nursing home beds that are in this "Acute" situation
In the county-by-county analysis below, all Medicare (and Medicaid certified) beds within the nursing homes were divided into "Small" (1-99 beds), Medium (100-299 beds), "Large" (300-499 beds) and Super (500 & over beds) categories and providers were grouped into these categories. A total count of providers within the county, sum of total number of certified beds, the sum of average number of residents per day as well as the average % occupancy and % bed availability are provided. The counties with the available bed capacity at 20% and lower are highlighted with a "Red" font and the "Acute" situations where the bed availability drops to single digits within a county is further highlighted with a "black border" around the availability number on the far-right column for ease of viewing. The color notation is a gradient with the lowest values: Yellow and the highest values: Blue. All intermediate values are in various shades of Green. The column on the far-right-% Avg Available Capacity indicates the bed availability for patient transfers, and more yellow the column is, the indication is that the available bed capacity is low.
County-by-County Analysis of Low and Acute NH Bed Availability Across the United States-States in "Low Availability" Group
Alaska has the lowest available NH bed capacity in the United States with only 3 counties that have over 20% available bed capacity. They also have the lowest number of total NH providers and beds in the country
South Dakota has the greatest number of counties that are in the "Acute" situation
North Dakota has a large number of the counties within the state that are in the "red" (bed availability is 20% and lower) as well as a large number of them in the "Acute" situation
23 counties in California are in the "red" with 20% and less available bed capacity, mostly in the urban regions of the state
West Virginia has very few counties with higher available bed capacity
New York is 86.6% rural, and it makes a big difference for one of the most populous states in the country with NH bed shortages
There is no "Acute" bed availability issue in the state of RI looking at the averages, however there might be periods of time when such situations could potentially pose challenges in counties like Bristol and Kent
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