Variation in Critical Care Beds Per Capita in the United States: Implications for Pandemic and Disaster Planning.

A letter is presented which discloses information on a study which evaluated U.S. population-level critical care bed supply and its implications for pandemic and disaster planning. Data analyzed by the researchers were from the 2007 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS), and regional boundaries were defined using Dartmouth Atlas hospital referral regions (HRR). Presented in details are the study findings. Also noted are the limitations of the study.