QuestionI'm trying to figure out what kind of Medicare coverage to get for my Dad. He's got the basic, which covers up to 60 days of hospital stay, but how do I know if that is enough? Can you point me to any stats that show what is the average length of hospital stay for various conditions?
AnswerData from the Institute for Health Information (IHI) indicate that the average length of a hospital stay dropped by more than 5% between 1994/95 and 1997/98, falling from 7.4 days to 7.0 days.
The age-standardized discharge rate (a measure of in-patient use of hospitals) fell by 13.8%, from 11 499 discharges per 100 000 population in 1994/95 to 9913 per 100 000 population in 1997/98. When combined, these 2 figures point to a 15% decrease in total patient days between 1994/95 and 1997/98 (see figure). All jurisdictions experienced a decrease in discharge rates between 1996/97 and 1997/98.
Women accounted for slightly more than half (51.1%) of nonpregnancy and childbirth-related hospitalizations in 1997/98. Heart disease and stroke were the leading cause of hospitalization for both males (20.5%) and females (15.1%), followed by digestive diseases (13.1% of hospitalized women, 12.6% of men).
In 1997/98, patients 65 and older accounted for 34.7% of all hospitalizations, and stayed in hospital an average of 10.5 days. In contrast, adults between the ages of 20 and 64 stayed an average of 5.4 days. Hospital stays for children and teenagers lasted an average of 4 days.
