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NHSN Connectivity Initiative: Hospital Bed Capacity Project
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for the federal government to collect information about healthcare system stress to increase patient safety during emergencies. CDC is uniquely positioned to collect such surveillance information and to incorporate that data collection as part of the CDC Data Modernization Initiative (DMI). The NHSN Connectivity Initiative: Hospital Bed Capacity Project, which is part of CDC's DMI, is an effort to strengthen the resiliency of healthcare systems and modernize data exchange. For this work, jurisdictions, hospitals, and CDC will collaborate to establish near real-time, automated collection and transmission of hospital bed capacity data.
The Hospital Bed Capacity Project aims to:
- Establish and sustain ongoing automated collection of bed capacity data from acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals
- Ensure participants use standardized definitions of healthcare bed capacity
Bed capacity and occupancy data sent to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) under this project can be used to fulfill part of the Hospital Respiratory Data (HRD) data reporting requirements as a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Condition of Participation for hospitals. More information about NHSN HRD reporting can be found on the NHSN website: Hospital Respiratory Data | NHSN | CDC
Collection of bed capacity data aligns with CDC’s Public Health Data Strategy (PHDS). The PHDS provides a way for public health partners, healthcare organizations, and the public to understand what we are doing and the progress we are making in key areas related to data, technology, policy, and administrative actions. One of the goals of the PHDS is to strengthen the core of public health data by better tracking information on topics like healthcare capacity.
CDC works closely with hospitals, jurisdictions, and other federal agencies to use reported data to efficiently coordinate and respond to emergencies. These partners meet regularly to ensure stakeholder awareness, collaboration, and alignment with other U.S. Government initiatives.
Automating hospital bed capacity data contributes to cross-agency response goals and supports jurisdictions, hospitals and patients in the following ways:
Email us at NHSN@cdc.gov and use the subject line “Bed Capacity” for more information.
“We are so excited about the potential for this [bed capacity] system, and its ability to provide us near real-time data, 24/7. . .it’s data that can be used by a variety of organizations across the state of Hawaii. . .we’ve never had that level of transparency before.”
– Hilton Raethel, President & CEO, Healthcare Association of Hawaii
“Since 2009, Oregon has leveraged hospital capacity tools to inform responses to H1N1, Ebola, and seasonal threats. By using an automated data feed directly from hospitals, the [bed capacity] system supports near real-time decision-making for preparedness, response, and recovery—including patient movement, mass casualty incidents, and future outbreaks – and allows for healthcare efficiency and better patient outcomes.”
– Nick May, Health Security Preparedness and Response Information Systems Coordinator, Oregon Heath Authority
Situational Awareness
Near real-time data on the bed capacity in hospitals helps stakeholders and decision makers understand how facilities are affected during surges. These data help jurisdictions and federal partners maximize safe and effective patient care by determining how resources might be applied to alleviate stress on a challenged region.
Load Balancing
During disasters, one hospital may receive a disproportionately higher number of patients than nearby facilities. Jurisdictions with near real-time data can move resources or transfer patients from overwhelmed healthcare facilities to ones with more capacity. Near real-time data can help to identify potentially overwhelmed healthcare facilities as well as facilities with the ability to receive more patients.
Capacity Planning
Hospitals, jurisdictions and federal partners can use current data on bed capacity outside of a surge situation to plan for future needs. By analyzing trends in rates of bed occupancy and predicting future demand, stakeholders and decision makers can better plan for how disasters may affect specific regions and how best to mitigate the stress.
Response-Readiness and Resource Allocation
When hospitals and jurisdictions align bed capacity data definitions and share these data with federal partners, we can improve response-readiness and resource allocation with faster, more complete collection of national bed capacity data.
The NHSN Connectivity Initiative: Hospital Bed Capacity Project captures information on the number of occupied (by patient census) and unoccupied beds across applicable bed types for each hospital. All unoccupied counts and patient censuses represent facility-level aggregate values for a given date and time.
No personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) is collected or transmitted. The hospital bed fields collected represent facility-level aggregates.
Starting in 2022, the state health departments in Oregon, Massachusetts, and Hawaii were funded through CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Cooperative Agreement to establish a daily automated reporting feed of hospital bed capacity data to NHSN.
In January 2024, supplemental funding was awarded to select recipients of the ELC Cooperative Agreement (CK19-1904) in support of the NHSN Connectivity Initiative: Hospital Bed Capacity Project.
A growing number of jurisdictions and individual facilities participate in this work outside of ELC funding. CDC encourages new jurisdictions and facilities interested in this work to reach out to the NHSN Connectivity Initiative to maintain consistency in project structure and core bed capacity data definitions. This allows for a comparable understanding at a national level of near real-time hospital bed capacity.
CDC expects this project’s outcomes to include more accurate tracking of hospitalizations, improved collaboration among decision makers to optimally manage resources, and a clearer understanding of healthcare system capacity nationwide.
- NHSN Connectivity Initiative Hospital Bed Capacity Project Instruction Book [PDF – 429 KB]
- NHSN Connectivity Initiative API and SAMS Onboarding Instructions [PDF – 1 MB]
- NHSN Connectivity Initiative Hospital Bed Capacity Project Data Dictionary [XLS – 34 KB]
- Bed Capacity – Data Element Tables and Relationships [XLS – 26 KB]
This resource is provided as a supplement to the NHSN Connectivity Initiative: Hospital Bed Capacity Project Data Dictionary and includes a series of tables that display groupings and relationships among the bed capacity data elements grouped by bed category included in the collection.
This resource provides detailed information on file and data type specifications and recommendations for ensuring accuracy for successful transmission of bed capacity data to NHSN.
This resource provides examples of how jurisdictions, hospitals and federal agencies use bed capacity data to improve patient outcomes and public health response.
This guide provides instructions for modifying and running the Bed Capacity Analysis Report in the NHSN Patient Safety Component for group users.
This guide provides instructions for group users for viewing and using the Bed Capacity Dashboard in the NHSN Patient Safety Component.
This guide provides specifications for mapping overlapping data elements between the Bed Capacity collection and NHSN’s Hospital Respiratory Data collection.
Building the infrastructure needed for a near real-time view into hospital bed capacity has immediate regional benefits in times of patient surge or healthcare system stress and also contributes to a greater awareness of how hospitals in a region manage patient levels and adapt to needs on a daily basis. CDC welcomes additional jurisdictions and individual facilities to participate in this initiative to support local, state, and regional decision-making for everyday operations and emergency preparedness and response. If your jurisdiction or facility is interested in joining this work, please email NHSN@cdc.gov and use the subject line “Bed Capacity.”
