September 2021 Utilization Report

Comparisons of utilization metrics to the pre-COVID-19 baseline continue to show acute care admissions recovery at 9% pre-COVID-19 trends (Fig. 1). Observation utilization returned to pre-COVID baseline levels with mean and median difference from pre-COVID baseline of 0% over the past six months (Fig.1). In addition to the upward trend in ED utilization in Fig. 1 below, for the 15-month period examined for ED visits in Table 15 of the report, three hospitals saw their highest ED volumes this month. Ambulatory surgery volumes are also up with a 12.5% average increase over September 2020 and a 12-month average utilization of 15.6% higher than the prior 12-month period (Table 16).