Hospitals warn of thin reserves, high occupancy and discharge bottlenecks

Hospital leaders told the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee that Washington hospitals are operating near capacity, have seen four years of financial losses and continue to face complex discharge and workforce challenges that reduce bed availability.

Florence Chang, president of MultiCare Health System and chair of the Washington State Hospital Association—s public policy committee, said Washington—s 101 community hospitals are part of a broad health ecosystem that depends on primary care, long‑term care and outpatient specialty services. "Hospitals are operating very high in terms of 96% occupancy," Chang said. "When an acute care bed is taken up by a patient who could be discharged, it causes longer emergency department wait times."

Maryann Keene, CEO of Ocean Beach Hospital and chair of WSHA—s rural hospital committee, told the committee hospitals provided substantial volumes of care last year: emergency department visits measured in the millions, hundreds of thousands of…