Colorado Hospital and Community Data and Reports

Licensed Beds: Refers to the maximum number of beds that a licensure agency, such as the state or other governing body, allows a hospital or health facility to operate at any given time. These numbers are reported by hospitals every month. This figure is an average for the reporting period.

Total Discharges: An inpatient discharge is the formal release of a patient (includes patients admitted and discharged the same day) and the termination of the hospital lodging. For the DATABANK Program, a mother and her newborn baby count as one discharge if they are discharged at the same time. When a baby remains at the hospital beyond the mother’s discharge (a.k.a.. a “boarder baby”), one discharge is counted when the mother is released and another discharge is counted when the baby is released. If a patient is discharged from an acute care unit and transferred to another care setting, such as a swing bed, there would be a count for acute discharge and another discharge from swing bed when that occurs. Total discharges include acute care, swing bed1, sub-acute/long-term care and distinct-part unit2.

Patient Days: A patient day is a unit of measure that represents lodging provided and services rendered to inpatients between the census-taking hours (usually at midnight) of two successive days. A patient formally admitted to a hospital who is discharged or dies on the same day is counted as one patient day, regardless of the number of hours the patient occupies a hospital bed. This includes acute care, swing bed, sub-acute/long-term care and distinct-part unit. Newborn patient days are excluded.

Births: The sum of the number of live births in the hospital during the reporting period, including cesarean deliveries. Fetal deaths and infants transferred from other facilities are excluded.

Emergency Department Visits: The total number of patients seen in an emergency unit who are not later admitted as inpatients.

Total Outpatient Visits: Total number of outpatient visits reported during the reporting period, including emergency room visits, ambulatory surgery visits, observation visits, home health visits and all other visit types.

Inpatient Surgeries: The number of operations performed on inpatients, (i.e., those who remain in the hospital between two census taking hours — usually at midnight — of two successive days.) This number represents each patient undergoing surgery and is counted as one surgical operation, regardless of the number of surgical procedures that were performed while the patient was in the operating or procedure rooms. This also includes cesarean deliveries.

Inpatient Admissions from the Emergency Department: The total number of Inpatient Admissions from the Emergency Room during the reporting period.

1 Swing-beds: Refers to an agreement under the Social Security Act that permits certain small, rural hospitals to enter into a “swing bed agreement,” under which hospitals can use its beds, as needed, to provide either acute- or Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)-level care.

2 Distinct-Part Unit: A portion of an institution or institutional complex that is certified to provide Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) or Nursing Facility (NF) services. A distinct part must be physically distinguishable from the larger institution and fiscally separate for cost reporting purposes.