Health Care in Conflict: Hospitals, Nursing Homes Struggle to Meet Growing Demand for Care

A major challenge facing health care delivery is the increasing need for services from our growing elderly population. As the “Baby Boomer” generation continues to age, the need for healthcare services will continue to grow as well.

Currently, New York’s healthcare providers are straining to keep up with a growing demand for services, forced to “do more with less” due to repeated budget cuts over several years.” More cuts will likely mean more hospital closures, particularly in New York’s most disadvantaged communities, where access to health care is already limited. 

• Between 2010 and 2030, the proportion of the population aged 65 and older in New York State grew by an estimated 1.3 million people, from 13.6% to 20.1%.
• In New York City, visits to nonprofit hospitals in 2008 increased by 1%; visits to municipal hospitals increased by just over 5%.

Facilities Already See Increased Demand

More people are seeking treatment in all types of health care settings, especially emergency rooms. Between 1995 and 2005, visits to ambulatory care facilities increased by 36%.

• Approximately 10% of all ambulatory care visits in the United States occur in the emergency department.
• From 1995 to 2005, the number of visits to hospital emergency departments in the United States increased about 20%.
• This trend was mirrored in New York State, where emergency department visits grew by nearly 6% in the three most recent years from 2006 through 2008.

This growing demand makes our health care facilities more important than ever, but the supply (measured by the number of health care facilities in operation) in many important population centers is actually falling.
 

The Need for Long Term Care

Although options for receiving care in the community are increasing, there will always be a need for nursing homes, as many elderly need or want 24-hour, residential care. Americans are living longer—but also living with serious chronic health conditions—suggesting the demand for nursing home services will continue to grow:

• The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the population of people over 65 will increase by 40% between 2010 and 2030.
• Projections indicate that the percentage of people in need of nursing home care will increase by up to 25%. between 2010 and 2030.

But long term care is getting harder to find. Since 1994, 44 nursing homes have closed in New York City alone. And each year, nursing homes are threatened with severe funding cuts. More cuts may mean that New York’s vulnerable seniors may have to move far away from their neighborhoods and families to access the residential care they need.