Hawaiian facility to shift beds from long-term to acute care

Hilo Medical Center is seeking approval to increase its acute medical care beds to 20 and eliminate 20 of its skilled nursing facility beds, according to an article on the Pacific Business Journal website.

The hospital cited a growing emergency room and admissions needs in the hospital that have developed in the last four years, while seeing a decline in the need for long-term care beds.

In the certificate of need, Hilo said it had seen growth in its medical and surgical census from 67.7 percent in 2010 to 86.5 percent so far in 2014. The summary also says the hospital frequently fills all of its acute care beds and sometimes has patients waiting for them in hallways or overflow areas, the article said.

The hospital’s long-term care facility is seeing fewer patients due to the success of the Medicare Residential Alternative Community Care Program, Elena Cabatu, the hospital's spokesperson, said in the article.

Read the article.