The association of strained ICU capacity with hospital patient racial and ethnic composition and federal relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the association between strained intensive care unit (ICU) capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic and hospital racial and ethnic patient composition, federal pandemic relief, and other hospital characteristics.

DATA SOURCES

We used government data on hospital capacity during the pandemic and Provider Relief Fund (PRF) allocations, Medicare claims and enrollment data, hospital cost reports, and Social Vulnerability Index data.

STUDY DESIGN

We conducted cross-sectional bivariate analyses relating strained capacity and PRF award per hospital bed with hospital patient composition and other characteristics, with and without adjustment for hospital referral region (HRR).

DATA COLLECTION

We linked PRF data to CMS Certification Numbers based on hospital name and location. We used measures of racial and ethnic composition generated from Medicare claims and enrollment data. Our sample period includes the weeks of September 18, 2020 through November 5, 2021, and we restricted our analysis to short-term, general hospitals with at least one intensive care unit (ICU) bed. We defined "ICU strain share" as the proportion of ICU days occurring while a given hospital had an ICU occupancy rate ≥ 90%.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

After adjusting for HRR, hospitals in the top tercile of Black patient shares had higher ICU strain shares than did hospitals in the bottom tercile (30% vs. 22%, p < 0.05) and received greater PRF amounts per bed ($118,864 vs. $92,407, p < 0.05). Having high versus low ICU occupancy relative to pre-pandemic capacity was associated with a modest increase in PRF amounts per bed after adjusting for HRR ($107,319 vs. $96,627, p < 0.05), but there were no statistically significant differences when comparing hospitals with high versus low ICU occupancy relative to contemporaneous capacity.

CONCLUSIONS

Hospitals with large Black patient shares experienced greater strain during the pandemic. Although these hospitals received more federal relief, funding was not targeted overall toward hospitals with high ICU occupancy rates.