Hospital admission statistics show how the volume and setting of inpatient care changed in the United States across selected years from 1980 through 2019. The figures below cover all hospitals, federal hospitals, nonfederal hospitals, and community hospitals, alongside average length of stay and selected outpatient measures.
Contents
- At a glance
- Admissions across all U.S. hospitals
- Federal and nonfederal hospital admissions
- Community hospital admissions
- Average length of stay
- Inpatient and outpatient care measures
At a glance
The supplied historical series reports admissions in thousands, so each value represents the number of admissions multiplied by 1,000. The series includes benchmark years rather than an observation for every year. It identifies the setting for each measure, which matters when comparing totals: “all hospitals” includes federal and nonfederal hospitals, while community hospitals are a narrower category.
The data also place admissions beside average length of stay. These are different measures. Admissions count hospital stays entering the system during a period, while average length of stay reports the average number of days for a stay. A change in one measure should not be treated as a direct measure of the other.
All statistics in this article are labeled CDC/HospAdmis.pdf in the supplied research record. The record identifies the material as legacy research that was not independently verified, so the historical figures should be read with that provenance in mind.
Admissions across all U.S. hospitals
The all-hospital series provides the broadest view of U.S. admissions. It reports 38,892 thousand admissions in 1980 and 33,774 thousand in 1990. The corresponding figure for 2000 was 34,891 thousand.
Later observations in the same series were 37,480 thousand admissions in 2009 and 36,915 thousand in 2010. The record reports 36,510 thousand in 2017, 36,354 thousand in 2018, and 36,242 thousand in 2019. These observations are specific to the United States and to all hospitals, not to a particular state, payer, age group, diagnosis, or hospital service.
| Year | Admissions in all U.S. hospitals |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 38,892 thousand |
| 1990 | 33,774 thousand |
| 2000 | 34,891 thousand |
| 2009 | 37,480 thousand |
| 2010 | 36,915 thousand |
| 2017 | 36,510 thousand |
| 2018 | 36,354 thousand |
| 2019 | 36,242 thousand |
The sequence shows why the measurement year should accompany any statement about hospital admissions. The available values differ across the selected years, and the series does not provide enough detail here to explain the causes of those changes. The figures describe the recorded admissions totals; they do not identify whether changes reflect population shifts, medical practice, hospital capacity, insurance coverage, disease patterns, or other factors.
Source: CDC/HospAdmis.pdf, legacy research record not independently verified.
Federal and nonfederal hospital admissions
Federal and nonfederal hospitals form two additional groupings in the historical record. Federal hospitals reported 2,044 thousand admissions in 1980, 1,759 thousand in 1990, and 1,034 thousand in 2000. The later federal-hospital figures were 1,047 thousand in 2009, 911 thousand in 2010, 884 thousand in 2017, 826 thousand in 2018, and 848 thousand in 2019.
Nonfederal hospitals reported 36,848 thousand admissions in 1980 and 32,015 thousand in 1990. The series then gives 33,946 thousand in 2000, 36,432 thousand in 2009, and 36,004 thousand in 2010. For the most recent selected years, the reported values were 35,627 thousand in 2017, 35,528 thousand in 2018, and 35,394 thousand in 2019.
| Hospital grouping | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal hospitals | 2,044 thousand | 1,759 thousand | 1,034 thousand | 848 thousand |
| Nonfederal hospitals | 36,848 thousand | 32,015 thousand | 33,946 thousand | 35,394 thousand |
The two groupings should not be read as interchangeable categories. The federal-hospital figures describe federal hospitals specifically, while the nonfederal figures describe the separate nonfederal grouping. The all-hospital series is the broader total reported by the same source label.
For 2009 and 2010, the nonfederal series reports 36,432 thousand and 36,004 thousand admissions, respectively, while the federal series reports 1,047 thousand and 911 thousand. For 2017 through 2019, the federal series reports 884 thousand, 826 thousand, and 848 thousand; the nonfederal series reports 35,627 thousand, 35,528 thousand, and 35,394 thousand.
Source: CDC/HospAdmis.pdf, legacy research record not independently verified.
Community hospital admissions
Community hospitals are a narrower hospital category in the supplied statistics. The reported community-hospital admissions total was 36,143 thousand in 1980 and 31,181 thousand in 1990. In 2000, the figure was 33,089 thousand.
The later observations were 35,527 thousand admissions in 2009, 35,149 thousand in 2010, 34,306 thousand in 2017, 34,251 thousand in 2018, and 34,078 thousand in 2019. Because these values are for community hospitals, they should be kept distinct from the all-hospital, federal-hospital, and nonfederal-hospital series.
| Year | Community hospital admissions |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 36,143 thousand |
| 1990 | 31,181 thousand |
| 2000 | 33,089 thousand |
| 2009 | 35,527 thousand |
| 2010 | 35,149 thousand |
| 2017 | 34,306 thousand |
| 2018 | 34,251 thousand |
| 2019 | 34,078 thousand |
The community-hospital series is useful when the question concerns that category specifically. It is not a substitute for the all-hospital total, and the supplied record does not provide additional definitions, exclusions, or explanations for the category boundaries. Readers should therefore retain the hospital grouping when quoting any value.
Source: CDC/HospAdmis.pdf, legacy research record not independently verified.
Average length of stay
Average length of stay adds a utilization measure alongside admission counts. For all U.S. hospitals, the reported average was 10.0 days in 1980, 9.1 days in 1990, and 6.8 days in 2000. It was 6.2 days in 2009, remained 6.2 days in 2010, and was 6.1 days in both 2017 and 2018. The 2019 value was 6.2 days.
Federal hospitals had a different reported length-of-stay series: 16.8 days in 1980, 14.9 days in 1990, and 12.8 days in 2000. The federal-hospital average was 10.8 days in 2009, 11.8 days in 2010, 10.9 days in 2017, 11.7 days in 2018, and 11.2 days in 2019.
| Year | All hospitals | Federal hospitals |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10.0 days | 16.8 days |
| 1990 | 9.1 days | 14.9 days |
| 2000 | 6.8 days | 12.8 days |
| 2009 | 6.2 days | 10.8 days |
| 2010 | 6.2 days | 11.8 days |
| 2017 | 6.1 days | 10.9 days |
| 2018 | 6.1 days | 11.7 days |
| 2019 | 6.2 days | 11.2 days |
These values measure days, not admissions. They also apply to different hospital groupings, so comparisons need to retain both the year and the setting. The source record supplies the figures but does not provide a breakdown by diagnosis, procedure, patient characteristics, or hospital type beyond the labels shown here.
Source: CDC/HospAdmis.pdf, legacy research record not independently verified.
Inpatient and outpatient care measures
The supplied record includes two outpatient measures that help place hospital admissions in a wider care setting. For all U.S. hospitals, outpatient visits were reported as 262,951 thousand in 1980 and 900,689 thousand in 2019. These are outpatient visits, not hospital admissions, and the two observations are separated by the measurement years shown.
The record also reports outpatient surgery as a percentage of total surgeries in U.S. community hospitals. The percentage was 16.3% in 1980 and 68.4% in 2019. This measure is a share of surgeries, not a count of surgeries and not a percentage of hospital admissions.
| Measure | 1980 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Outpatient visits, all U.S. hospitals | 262,951 thousand | 900,689 thousand |
| Outpatient surgery as a percent of total surgeries, community hospitals | 16.3% | 68.4% |
The different units are important: admissions and outpatient visits are reported in thousands, while outpatient surgery is reported as a percentage of total surgeries. The supplied statistics do not provide a full annual outpatient series, a corresponding inpatient-surgery percentage, or a method for attributing changes in these measures to specific causes.
Source: CDC/HospAdmis.pdf, legacy research record not independently verified.