Where Have All the Hospital Patients Gone? – The New York Times

Read article - Quotes John Birkmeyer, adjunct professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Process, and Jonathan Skinner, the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor in Economics, about a study they conducted in which they examined admissions data from more than 200 hospitals in 36 states. The research team compared differences in patient characteristics, diagnoses, and mortality rates between February and July of this year with the same time period last year. Birkmeyer, Skinner, and their colleagues found that by mid-April, non-COVID admissions to hospitals had dropped by almost half. "We found it staggering that such a high number of patients who might have been hospitalized for serious issues just kind of disappeared," said Birkmeyer. "You have to wonder, 'Where did they all go?'"