Use of "shuttered" hospitals to expand surge capacity.

Introduction: With limited available hospital beds in most urban areas, there are very few options when trying to relocate patients already within the hospital to make room for incoming patients from a mass-casualty incident (MCI) or epidemic (a patient surge). This study investigates the possibility and process for utilizing shuttered (closed or former) hospitals to accept medically stable, ambulatory patients transferred from a tertiary medical facility.

Methods: Two recently closed, acute care hospitals were evaluated critically to determine if they could be made ready to accept inpatients within 3-7 days of a MCI.