April 2026 Utilization Report
Highlights: Conducting a 12-month comparison, focus utilization metrics for March and April 2026 show only slight fluctuations when compared to March 2025. Observation admissions present the biggest increase in volumes at 6% and 8% over March 2025 utilization for March 2026 and April 2026 respectively. Ambulatory surgery visits decreased 1% in March 2026 compared to March in the prior year and was only 1% higher in April compared to the March 2025 utilization. Psychiatric admissions showed slightly more variation with a 2% increase in March 2026 compared to March 2025 and a 6% decrease in April 2026 when compared to the same 2025 baseline (see Fig. 1 below).
Of note, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital and St. Elizabeths Hospital all saw their highest utilization since February 2025 during the month of March 2026. Although MedStar Washington Hospital Center reported their highest level of civil commitments since February 2025 in March 2026, civil commitments show a declining shift overall since October 2025. Additionally, the percent change for average newborn admissions indicates a decline of 12.82% when comparing the most recent three-month period in 2026 (February – April) to the same three-month period in 2025 and a decline of 10.95% when comparing the most recent 12-month average with the prior 12-month period average.
As a note, the last three months and last 12 months percent change comparison for Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health is marked N/A for data tables throughout the report as Cedar Hill opened in April of 2025.Comparing March 2026 to January 2026 utilization metrics, a considerable increase in volumes is noted for all focus metrics.
