Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association Adds Intensive Care Unit Bed Metrics to
Online COVID-19 Virginia Hospital Data Dashboard

July 21, 2020

Data Dashboard Now Includes Information on Occupancy Rate of Staffed ICU Beds, ICU Surge Bed Count, and ICU Bed Utilization Rate for Available Existing and Surge Beds; Well-Received Virginia Hospital COVID-19 Data Dashboard is a Public-Facing Tool that Recently Surpassed Two Million Online Views

RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) has added intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability and utilization data to the online Virginia Hospital COVID-19 Data Dashboard to help inform the public, government officials, and media members about coronavirus hospitalization trends and related information.

When it launched in April, the dashboard initially chronicled COVID-19 hospitalizations across the Commonwealth, ventilator usage, hospital bed availability, and metrics on the number of hospitals experiencing challenges obtaining or replenishing critical inventories of PPE and other needed medical supplies. The dashboard, which is presented with support from VHHA hospital members, has since been updated in early May to feature a “beds added” category, and in June to feature day-over-day hospitalization trend line data.

The latest update to the dashboard, which recently surpassed two million total online views, features metrics highlighting total ICU hospital bed occupancy rates for COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, the total number of additional ICU surge beds available in the event they become needed, and the statewide ICU bed occupancy rate for both existing beds and surge beds.

“As COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen in recent weeks, it is critical to monitor the rapidly evolving nature of this virus and the serious risk it poses for public health,” said VHHA President and CEO Sean T. Connaughton. “Having accurate, current data is vital to understanding the scope of this public health challenge and the resources necessary to respond to it. Providing hospital ICU bed information through the data dashboard continues the hospital community’s commitment to publicly communicate valuable data that offers insight into the work being done by Virginia hospitals and health systems, and the thousands of dedicated health care professionals they employ who are combatting COVID-19.”

The dashboard developed by the VHHA Data Analytics team is updated daily with information provided through the Virginia Healthcare Alerting Status System (VHASS) in concert with the Virginia Healthcare Emergency Management Program (VHEMP) and VHHA’s Emergency Preparedness team.

In addition to the Virginia Hospital COVID-19 Dashboard, VHHA also maintains a Virginia Licensed Nursing Facility COVID-19 Dashboard, a Virginia Hospital Patient Experience Data Dashboard, a series of Community Health Legislative Dashboards, the interactive Virginia Hospital Quality and Patient Safety Scorecard, and a Virginia Hospital Media Dashboard. Each of these data-informed tools are public facing and presented with the support of VHHA member hospitals and health systems to help advance community understanding about the health care delivery system in Virginia.

About VHHA: The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association is an alliance of 110 hospitals and 26 health delivery systems that develops and advocates for sound health care policy in the Commonwealth. Its mission is to achieve excellence in both health care and health. Its vision is through the power of collaboration to be recognized as a driving force behind making Virginia the healthiest state in the nation. Connect with VHHA through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Julian Walker
Vice President of Communications
(804) 297-3193 office
(804) 304-7402 mobile
jtwalker@vhha.com