Understanding Bed-Needs Analysis

What every hospice executive should know before commissioning a study

Every hospice organization that seriously considers developing a dedicated inpatient facility eventually encounters the same question: How many beds do we actually need? The instinctive answer — count your GIP days and divide — misses most of what actually determines bed need.

This guide explains the full methodology behind a rigorous bed-needs analysis so you can evaluate whether inpatient development is viable for your organization, and ask better questions when you engage a consultant.

What's in the guide

1. 1
   What is bed-needs analysis?
   The core question a bed-needs study answers — and what it explicitly does not tell you.
2. 2
   The key data inputs
   Medicare claims data, service area definitions, existing inpatient capacity, and population/mortality projections.
3. 3
   The analytical framework
   Step-by-step: establishing base-year demand, assessing supply adequacy, projecting future demand, calculating bed need, and the gap analysis.
4. 4
   Interpreting results
   What a positive finding means, what a negative finding means, and the question of scale.
5. 5
   Common mistakes in bed-needs analysis
   Using only your own GIP volume, applying national rates to local markets, treating contracted beds as adequate supply, and projecting without sensitivity analysis.
6. 6
   When to pursue a formal analysis
   The specific indicators that make a formal engagement warranted — and when it's premature.

Who this guide is for

• CEOs and CFOs of mid-to-large hospice organizations considering GIP facility development
• Board members who need to understand what a feasibility study can and cannot tell them
• VP-level operations and finance leaders preparing for a consultant engagement
• Organizations in early-stage capital planning who want to understand whether a formal analysis is warranted