How a surge of coronavirus patients could stretch hospital resources in your area

If a health official wanted to know how many intensive-care beds there are in the United States, Jeremy Kahn would be the person to ask. The ICU physician and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh earns a living studying critical-care resources in U.S. hospitals.

Yet even Kahn can’t give a definitive answer. His best estimate is based on Medicare data gathered three years ago.

“People are sort of in disbelief that even I don’t know how many ICU beds exist in each hospital in the United States,” he said, noting that reporting varies hospital to hospital, state to state. “And I’m sort of like, ‘Yep, the research community has been dealing with this problem for years.’ ” Continue reading.