A study of New York City obstetrics units demonstrates the potential for reducing hospital inpatient capacity.

Hospitals are under significant pressure from payers to reduce costs. The single largest fixed cost for a hospital is inpatient beds, yet there is significant variation in hospital capacity utilization. We study bed capacity in New York City hospital obstetrics units and find that while many hospitals have an insufficient number of beds to provide timely access to care, overall there is significant excess capacity. Our findings, coupled with current demographic and clinical practice trends, indicate that a large fraction of obstetrics units nationwide could likely reduce their bed capacity while assuring timely access to care, resulting in large savings in capital and staffing costs. Given emerging health care delivery and payment models that will likely decrease demand for other types of hospital beds, our study suggests that data-based methodologies should be used by hospitals and policy makers to identify opportunities for reducing excess bed capacity in other inpatient units as well.