Hospital Use Of Medicare Observation Services Rises 62% In 8 years

Hospital Use Of Medicare Observation Services Rises 62% In 8 years Hospital use of Medicare observation services increased by 62% since 2001; rising from 24.9 per 1,000 beneficiaries in 2001 to 40.3 per 1,000 beneficiaries in 2009. During the same period, inpatient stays dropped by 16.6%, from 310.1 per 1,000 in 2001 to 258.7 per 1,000 in 2009. In 2009, about 2.1 million Medicare beneficiaries used hospital observation services; they represented about 3.5% of all Medicare beneficiaries that year. Medicare beneficiaries on observation are not formally admitted as hospital . . .