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Utilization Pricing

Each intensive-care bed is billed for the hours it holds a patient, measured by the bed itself, at a rate fixed for the term.

At a glance

Equipment
ICU and step-down beds
Billed
Per occupied bed-hour, monthly
Minimum
Set at signing, usually 55 to 70 percent
Term
60 to 84 months
Beds on Utilization Pricing
3,947
Introduced
March 2016

How it is measured

Every bed we finance on Utilization Pricing has an integrated scale. When the scale reads a patient’s weight for more than ten minutes, the hour counts as occupied; when the bed is empty for more than ten minutes, it stops. The bed reports its hours through the manufacturer’s remote-service connection, so nobody at the hospital records anything.

A sample week of twelve beds, one square per bed per hour1,724 of 2,016 bed-hours occupied (85.5 percent). Each row is a bed and each column an hour, Monday to Sunday; filled squares are hours when the bed held a patient.Bed 1Bed 2Bed 3Bed 4Bed 5Bed 6Bed 7Bed 8Bed 9Bed 10Bed 11Bed 12MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
A sample week, twelve beds. 1,724 occupied bed-hours of 2,016 (85.5 percent). The monthly statement in the Client Center shows the same grid for your own unit, bed by bed and hour by hour.

How it is billed

The agreement fixes a rate per occupied bed-hour for the whole term, and a minimum monthly commitment, expressed as a share of available bed-hours. Each month you pay the greater of the minimum and the hours actually used.

Monthly equipment charge for a seasonal ICU: Utilization Pricing compared with a fixed leaseBars show the Utilization Pricing charge each month, indexed so that the fixed lease is 84. The charge is highest in January at about 91 and lowest from June to August, when the minimum commitment applies, at about 60. Over the year it totals about 906 against 1008 for the lease. 04080120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Fixed lease
Utilization Pricing charge   Fixed lease. An illustration for a 16-bed unit with a minimum commitment of 62 percent, indexed to the lease; your figures will differ.

A unit with a steady census pays about what a lease would cost. A unit whose census swings with the seasons pays less in its quiet months and about the same in its busy ones, so it usually pays less over the year.

Reconciling the statement

The statement arrives on the third business day of each month, with the hours for every bed. Your team can compare it with your own census and query any bed within 30 days. If a bed was occupied by equipment rather than a patient, or was weighed during cleaning, we correct the hours.

What it suits

  • Units with a seasonal census, especially in rural and resort areas.
  • New or expanded units that will take time to fill.
  • Hospitals that want equipment cost to move with volume, as most of their revenue does.

Occupancy is measured by equipment-reported weight and is not a clinical record. Bed-hour data contains no patient identifiers.