Augusta Georgia Hospital's Worksheet S-3 Pt I Comparison
Worksheet S-3 on the Medicare Cost Report is for hospitals to report statistical data and wage index information. There are a series of these worksheets. Part I of the Worksheet S-3 is what this post will focus on. Part I reports hospital’s statistical data for beds, days, FTEs, and discharges. I will use the data on this worksheet to compare these five hospitals from my hometown Augusta, Georgia: AU Medical Center, University Hospital, Doctors Hospital, Burke Medical Center, and University Hospital McDuffie.
Augusta-Area Hospitals Worksheet S-3 Part I
The first statistic I want to take a look at is beds. These will be staffed beds versus licensed beds.
| Hospital | Adults & Peds | ICU | Total Acute | Rehab | L&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AU Medical | 324 | 140 | 464 | 0 | 8 |
| University Hospital | 275 | 207 | 482 | 0 | 16 |
| Doctors Hospital | 182 | 115 | 297 | 28 | 0 |
| Burke Med Ctr | 40 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| University Hosp McDuffie | 25 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 |
I am shocked to see that University Hospital has more staffed beds than AU Medical. I am even more shocked to see that University Hospital has more ICU beds than AU.
Next, let’s take a look at different utilization rates. From this worksheet for each hospital, we can determine the percent of inpatients who are Medicare and Medicaid. We can also determine how often the beds are utilized.
| Hospital | Medicare % | Medicaid % | Bed Util | Total Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AU Medical | 18.5% | 10.41% | 78.45% | 132,270 |
| University Hospital | 25.30% | 5.98% | 69.79% | 129,909 |
| Doctors Hospital | 18.88% | 6.17% | 85.23% | 92,444 |
| Burke Medical Center | 30.62% | 1.39% | 6.52% | 503 |
| University Hosp McDuffie | 31.49% | 6.44% | 42.04% | 3,836 |
As you can see, the smaller hospitals that are in rural areas around Augusta (Burke Medical and University Hospital McDuffie) have the highest percentage of Medicare Inpatients as compared to their total Inpatient population. Medicaid is highest at AU Medical, which makes sense from a “local’s” perspective, but I am surprised how low Burke Medical Center’s Medicaid percentage is. Again, this would be from a local’s perspective.
University hospital has more staffed beds, but AU Medical has a higher bed utilization. This means that AU Medical has a head in a bed more often than University Hospital does.
Burke Medical Center changed management in May of 2022. Major construction and service line changes appear to be a part of this management change. I found an article that mentioned they were building two new operating rooms. With all of this change, some of their figures may be skewed for this cost reporting period. It is a partial period as well. I think this will explain such a low bed utilization figure.
Finally, I want to take a look at discharges versus total days. This will tell give us an average length of stay (ALOS).
| Hospital | Medicare ALOS | Medicaid ALOS | Total ALOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU Medical | 3.85 | 6.83 | 6.42 |
| University Hospital | 3.02 | 2.43 | 5.35 |
| Doctors Hospital | 3.09 | 1.32 | 6.21 |
| Burke Medical Center | 5.92 | 1.40 | 5.65 |
| University Hosp McDuffie | 3.95 | 4.75 | 6.11 |
Most of the hospitals I have worked with generally have around a 3 day average length of stay. So, I am surprised to see how long some of these length of stays are. However, some of this data will be skewed by the COVID pandemic. Another thing that would increase an average length of stay would be the acuity of the cases handled at the hospitals. In other words, if a hospital takes care of a lot of trauma patients, they will have longer lengths of stay.
Musing Revelation
It is always good to take a look at the data. The data reveals all kinds of nuggets of truth and exposes me to different environments which helps me to learn and correct misinformed ideas I may have. It is a great thing to always look to learn new information.
While I know these hospitals from growing up in this town and even having been a patient at several of these facilities, I don’t know all there is to know about their operations. Bed size gives me an indication of how big they actually are and bed types tell me they take care of a ton of high acuity patients. Bed utilization tells me they are really busy. Days and discharges tell me the patients are generally high acuity patients, except maybe at the smaller rural hospitals.
This data set was really fun to take a look at. Augusta provides a lot of medical care for their citizens and surrounding areas.