7,000 fewer hospital beds in Germany in 2001:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Germany' hospital number was reduced by 3, to 2,239, in 2001 and its number of hospital beds by some 7,000, to around 553,000, compared with the previous year. Figures released by the federal department for statistics last week at Medica, the world's largest medical device trade fair, in Dusseldorf, show that, despite a rise of 0.6% in the number of hospital procedures to 16.5 million, hospital bed occupancy fell by 0.8% to 80.7%, compared with 2000. In 2001, patients were released from hospital after an average stay of 9.8 days, compared with 10.1 days for the previous year. This trend is expected to continue with the introduction of the diagnosis related groups (DRG) system for hospital reimbursement in 2003.