CHIA Publishes Latest Report on MA Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data

DATE: December 15, 2022

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) today released its latest report offering insights into hospital inpatient utilization patterns. The Massachusetts Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data (HIDD) report presents key measures of inpatient utilization overall and by hospital, patient, and discharge characteristics and includes new sections on behavioral health and COVID-19.  

To better understand the vital role of inpatient services in the continuum of health care services in the Commonwealth, CHIA has analyzed inpatient stays in Massachusetts acute care hospitals over a six-year period, from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2016 to FFY 2021. This report establishes an important baseline of inpatient utilization that can be used for public health initiatives, analyses of preventable hospitalizations and readmissions, and comparative cost and outcomes research.

Key Findings:

• From 2016 to 2019, overall inpatient discharge volume remained relatively stable, around 800,000 inpatient discharges. Inpatient discharges declined 7.5% to 741,074 in 2020, and remained at a similar level in 2021.

• Average length of stay and total patient days of care for hospitalizations with intensive care use increased by 19.7% and 9.9%, respectively, from 2016 to 2021.

• The prevalence of behavioral health conditions among inpatient discharges increased steadily over the 6-year period from 38.0% in 2016 to 42.5% in 2021.

This publication is part of a reporting series providing analyses on patterns and trends of acute care hospital services from CHIA’s Case Mix database. In addition to this report, CHIA has published parallel reports for emergency department encounters and outpatient observation stays.

 This report is also accompanied by a databook and technical appendix.