The Percentage of ICU Beds Has Increased in Recent Years

The use of Intensive care Units (ICU) is on a rise in the United States.
Recent data published in the Critical Care Medicine Journal indicated that, despite overall shrinkage in the number hospital beds in US, the number of the Critical Care Medicine (CCM) beds is on a rise.
There is no doubt that this trend will continue into the future.
The cost of providing ICU care for any given patient will likely continue to increase as well.
In 2005, according to this study, CCM cost represented 0.
66% of our gross domestic product.
This is a staggering number if you think about it.
With the aging of the population in US, there will be even higher demand for ICU beds.
The development of new technologies will allow us to treat conditions that were considered lethal just ten to fifteen years ago.
We are also becoming better at what we do.
The investment in research and science gives us opportunity to better understand how to treat critically ill patients.
This means that ever sicker patients will survive in our ICUs, increasing length of stay and the cost of care.
Without introducing proper "checks and balances" and, yes, even rationing, CCM will take even larger bite out of our GDP.
Considering the cost of care in ICU, Critical Care Medicine is a "Cadillac" of the medicine.
And so it should be treated.
The concept of nobody dies without admission to ICU will turn our Intensive Care Units into Expensive Care Units.