Rodríguez Lesmes Paul, Rua Dalya Sofía, Durán Catalina
School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
Health Serv Insights. 2025 Jul 15;18:11786329251356558. doi: 10.1177/11786329251356558. eCollection 2025.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems worldwide, prompting governments to rapidly expand hospital bed capacity to meet the surge in demand for medical care. This study focuses on evaluating Colombia's healthcare system response by examining the expansion of hospital beds during the health crisis.
In an observational study, we used a national census of all healthcare facilities in Colombia, compiled by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MPSP), to analyze changes in hospital bed allocation from 2010 to 2022. Our analysis accounted for the size of each provider, its public or private ownership, and the types of services it was authorized to deliver. We applied interrupted time series models to assess changes at both the hospital and municipal levels over time.
Findings reveal a significant reduction in hospital beds in 2020, with adult beds decreasing by 1049 units and pediatric beds by 0.709 units compared to 2019. However, there was an increase in ICU beds for adults across all years, which persisted after the end of the crisis. The expansion mainly targeted small hospitals and the public network of providers. Most of the expansion was restricted to areas of the country that already had a supply of ICU and hospitalization beds.
Colombia's healthcare system responded dynamically to the COVID-19 pandemic by reallocating resources and expanding hospital bed capacity, despite the complex command and control configuration of its health system. Yet, it shows that the country needs to modify its financial and organizational structures to ensure better preparedness for future health crises.
新冠疫情给全球医疗系统带来了前所未有的挑战，促使各国政府迅速扩大医院床位容量，以满足激增的医疗需求。本研究聚焦于通过考察健康危机期间哥伦比亚医院床位的扩充情况，来评估该国医疗系统的应对措施。
在一项观察性研究中，我们使用了由卫生与社会保障部（MPSP）汇编的哥伦比亚所有医疗机构的全国普查数据，来分析2010年至2022年期间医院床位分配的变化。我们的分析考虑了每个医疗机构的规模、其公立或私立性质，以及其被授权提供的服务类型。我们应用中断时间序列模型来评估随时间推移在医院和市层面的变化。
研究结果显示，2020年医院床位显著减少，与2019年相比，成人床位减少了1049个单位，儿科床位减少了0.709个单位。然而，各年份中成人重症监护病房（ICU）床位均有所增加，且在危机结束后仍持续增长。扩充主要针对小型医院和公立医疗机构网络。大部分扩充限于该国已有ICU和住院床位供应的地区。
尽管哥伦比亚卫生系统的指挥与控制结构复杂，但该国医疗系统通过重新分配资源和扩大医院床位容量，对新冠疫情做出了动态响应。然而，这表明该国需要调整其财政和组织结构，以确保对未来的健康危机有更好的准备。
