New Data Shows Despite Surge, Lahey Hospital Has Space

BURLINGTON, MA — Recently updated data released by the federal government shows Lahey Hospital and Medical Center has space to take on more coronavirus patients, even as its caseload has rapidly increased over the last month.

As Patch previously reported, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week published capacity data for tens of thousands of hospitals nationwide. The new data painted a clearer picture of how many beds are available at each hospital. The new, more granular data aggregates daily hospital reports into a "week at a time" picture.

The new data shows that Massachusetts hospitals still have space to add more patients — but caseloads are growing fast.

Lahey Hospital is in better shape than most Middlesex County hospitals, with less than 10 percent of its beds occupied coronavirus patients, as of the week of Dec. 4 to 10. About 72 percent of the hospital's beds are occupied in total.

Patch requested comment from Beth Israel Lahey Health and will update this story when we hear back.

According to the federal data, Lahey Hospital has added coronavirus patients while holding beds hospital over the last month. With 444 adult inpatient beds, the hospital's daily average coronavirus patient population rose from 19.7 to 39.9, from the week of Nov. 6.

The proportion of adult inpatient beds used by coronavirus patients doubled.

Health experts have said the share of coronavirus hospitalizations out of the total beds is key to understanding how hospitals are strained. If that percentage eclipses 10 percent, it's cause for concern, they said. Hospitals are considered to be under extreme stress when the share of coronavirus hospitalizations to total beds tops 20 percent, and immense stress as the number approaches 50 percent.

Here are the capacity numbers for Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, according to federal Health and Human Services data, compared to the Nov. 6 to 12 data.

Lahey Hospital and Medical Center

• Total Beds (7-day average): 521 (level)
• All Adult Hospital Beds (7-day avg): 521 (level)
• All Adult Hospital Inpatient Beds (7-day average): 444 (level)
• Inpatient Beds Used (7-day average): 317.6 (down from 335.6)
• All Adult Hospital Inpatient Bed Occupied (7-day average): 317.6 (down from 335.6)
• Percent of inpatient beds used (Overall): 71.5 percent (down from 75.6 percent)
• Total Adult Patients Hospitalized Confirmed And Suspected COVID-19 (7-day average): 39.9 (up from 19.7)
• Percent of Adult Inpatient Beds Used By Confirmed And Suspected COVID-19 Patients: 9.0 percent (up from 4.4 percent)
• Total Adult Patients Hospitalized Confirmed COVID-19 (7-day average): 29.7 (up from 9.7)
• Percent of Adult Inpatient Beds Used By Confirmed COVID-19 Patients: 6.7 percent (up from 2.2 percent)
• Inpatient Beds (7-day average): 444
• Total ICU Beds (7-day average): 65
• Total Staffed Adult ICU Beds (7-day average): 65
• ICU Beds Used (7-day average): 41.3
• Staffed Adult ICU Bed Occupancy (7-day average): 41.3
• Staffed ICU Adult Patients Confirmed And Suspected COVID-19 (7-day average): 10.9 (up from 5.3)
• Staffed ICU Adult Patients Confirmed COVID-19 (7-day average): 9.3

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.