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By
Joe Manning, the
The number of patients admitted to hospitals in southeast But there could be other dynamics involved in the increase
as area hospitals reach out to capture patients living outside the
immediate area. There's also been an uptick in older, formerly healthy
people who had been in other states returning here as their health
declines, and they seek familiar surroundings and family support. No matter the reasons, more hospitalization means higher
costs spread across the population of people with health insurance,
contributing to spiraling health care costs in southeast Through November, nearly 227,000 patients received inpatient
care at The increase in admissions also comes at a time when
hospitals and their clinics are working to keep patients out of hospitals
through preventive measures and primary care. "It's the aging of the population, and as we age we go
to the hospital more and more," said Paul Nannis, spokesman for
Aurora Health Care, which saw a 1.8% increase in admissions to its “But the admissions increase (at Susan Duvall, program analyst with the Southeastern
Wisconsin Area Agency on Aging, said counties in southeast Wisconsin
experienced a 2.3% increase in people 60 years of age and older between
1990 and 2000. Oldest group grows But the fastest growing group among seniors were people 85
and older, which saw a 27.3% increase for the decade, Duvall said. “We absolutely have seen an increase in seniors in the
area,” Duvall said, adding that while seniors are living longer and are
generally healthier than in past years, they require more health care. William D. Petasnick, president of This was true in the system made up of Froedtert and “We see more patients coming out of the Valley than ever
before. And, we have seen a significant increase in patient transfers from
other hospitals outside the Hospitals everywhere are dealing with sicker patients than
in the past, Petasnick said. Some of those patients, he said, are retirees
who have returned to “They come back sicker and with more problems,” he said. Froedtert's admissions were up 4.2% through November, and
Community Memorial's increased by 5.4%. Kerry Freiberg, spokeswoman for
Community Memorial, said admissions were up because of the hospital's new
heart and vascular center and an increase in beds from 208 to 237. Richard Blomquist, who operates a benefits consulting group,
said an aging population as well as "patients being referred in from
the outposts, so to speak," were the drivers in the admissions
increase. The largest growth in admissions through November was seen
at Aurora Medical Center in Kenosha, where the number of patients
increased by 14.2%, but the growth is probably attributable mostly to the
growing population in the area, said Chris Olson, administrator of the
73-bed, 5-year-old Aurora facility. Increases in cases at Columbia St. Mary's Inc. reveal the
effect of an aging demographic, said Therese Pandl, executive vice
president and chief operating officer. The hospital system is seeing an increase in age-related hip
and knee replacements. “We did more than 1,000 such procedures in 2003, and
that's 200 more than in 2002,” Pandl said. The system's increase in
admissions paralleled the region's at 3%. Obesity and related conditions are also adding to
admissions, Pandl said. Stomach-stapling bariatric surgery is on the rise,
she said. Columbia St. Mary's is also seeing more patients who have
not gotten primary care.As their untreated conditions worsen,
hospitalization becomes necessary. "I would say there is a trend toward higher hospital
utilization because people are living longer through advancements in
technology and pharmacology," said Bill Bazan, area vice president of
the Wisconsin Hospital Association. But, the current goal in health care remains trying to keep as many people as possible out of expensive inpatient hospital settings, he said.
Copyright © 2002
Global Action on Aging |
