Despite treating higher acuity cases than other hospitals, essential hospitals have strong clinical performance across several patient safety metrics, according to a Jan. 13 report from Sg2, a Vizient company.
Essential hospitals account for about 5% of U.S. hospitals but provide 28% of charity care nationally, according to Vizient and America’s Essential Hospitals, an organization representing these facilities. Approximately 75% of patients served at essential hospitals are uninsured or are beneficiaries of Medicare or Medicaid, according to AEH.
The analysis compared 123 essential hospitals to the Vizient Clinical Data Base — which includes outcomes data from more than 1,300 U.S. hospitals.
In the first quarter of 2025, essential hospitals recorded a 7.1% increase in inpatient discharges compared to 2019. The Vizient’s database noted an average 4.1% increase.
Here are four other comparisons between essential hospitals and the database spanning hundreds of hospitals:
| Metric | Essential hospitals | Vizient Clinical Data Base average |
| Case mix index | 2.85 | 1.8 |
| Average length of stay, observed | 9.67 days | 5.48 days |
| Mortality, observed | 3.91% | 2.33% |
| 30-day readmissions, observed | 17.4% | 11.3% |
Essential hospitals have a higher rate in LOS, observed mortality and 30-day readmissions than the Vizient database average, which demonstrates the more complex, high-acuity population they serve while presenting opportunities for improvement, Vizient said.
Learn more about the case mix index, vulnerable community utilization and service line trends at essential hospitals here.
