Research firm raises alarms about Worcester-area ICU bed shortage
Photo | Grant Welker
UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester, which is one of the hospitals under the UMass Memorial Health umbrella
A new report by an industry research firm has placed the Worcester area among the worst nationally for intensive care hospital beds per capita, at a time when as many beds as possible are needed for the coronavirus pandemic.
The Worcester metropolitan area ranks ninth worst among relatively larger regions, according to the New York firm AdvisorSmith. The firm lists the Worcester area as having 125 intensive care beds, or 13.2 per 100,000 people, using U.S. Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services data.
Central Massachusetts, which is a larger geographic area than what was measured by AdvisorSmith, had 177 intensive care beds occupied as of Sunday, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 47 ICU beds were available.
The Worcester metro area also includes Connecticut's Windham County, where Day-Kimball Hospital in Putnam has 17 ICU beds.
Even as coronavirus cases have generally been around all-time highs in Worcester County and across Massachusetts, hospitalization and death rates have not hit the highs seen last spring during the pandemic's first wave locally.
At around the worst of the first peak in late April, Central Massachusetts hospitals had 193 patients in intensive care, according to the DPH. Another 874 medical/surgical beds were occupied, with 208 remaining available. During the spring peak and again this winter, area hospitals' capacity has been augmented by a field hospital at Worcester's DCU Center, which has an ability to fit upwards of 200 people, although none of those are for intensive care. As of Thursday, the center had 53 patients.
The worst ICU bed shortage among larger metro areas was Raleigh, N.C., with 10.4 beds per 100,000 people, according to AdvisorSmith. The best, Lexington, Ky., has 51.7 per 100,000.
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