How Healthcare Is Rationed, When Hospitals Reach Capacity.<br />As of September 13, over 96,000 hospital beds <br />are filled with COVID-19 patients nationwide.<br />CNN reports that means 77% of all hospital <br />beds across the country are currently in use.<br />When hospitals run out of beds or when staffing <br />is low, healthcare professionals must <br />determine which patients get treated first. .<br />These plans can include actions like adding beds, including in non-traditional areas of care in a hospital-like a cafeteria or parking lot, shifting patients between hospitals, and working with their local and state health departments to find other <br />sites of care, Akin Demehin, Director of policy at <br />the American Hospital Association, <br />via CNN.<br />These plans can include actions like adding beds, including in non-traditional areas of care in a hospital-like a cafeteria or parking lot, shifting patients between hospitals, and working with their local and state health departments to find other <br />sites of care, Akin Demehin, Director of policy at <br />the American Hospital Association, <br />via CNN.<br />Hospital capacity is not <br />only about how many beds <br />are filled, but many facilities <br />are much more concerned <br />about enough staffing <br />to care for patients.<br />Hospitals and health systems entered <br />the COVID-19 pandemic already facing <br />a shortage of skilled caregivers, and <br />the last 18 months have exacerbated that, Akin Demehin, Director of policy at <br />the American Hospital Association, <br />via CNN.<br />Art Caplan, professor of bioethics at NYU Langone Health in New York, says if a hospital is short on beds, they can prioritize care for patients who are more likely to survive.<br />That means a COVID-19 patient with no underlying <br />health conditions could be prioritized over a patient <br />with lung failure or other medical problems.<br />Rationing health care is not new in the American health care system. It's just Covid that's new, but not rationing, Art Caplan, Professor of bioethics <br />at NYU Langone Health, via CNN
