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Mississippi and Louisiana have more staffed hospital beds than other states
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) - A new study has analyzed data from the American Hospital Directory to determine which U.S. states have the highest number of staffed hospital beds, and a shockingly high number of Southern states require more hospital beds than their Northern counterparts.
Mississippi has 3.1 staffed hospital neds for every 1000 residents, which puts them in front of Louisiana (second) and West Virginia (third.)
The study was conducted by personal injury attorneys John Foy & Associates.
Hospital directory data was measured against U.S. Census data to determine which states had the highest need for staffed hospital beds per 100000 people.
US states with highest number of staffed hospital beds
| Rank | State | Number of Hospitals | Staffed Beds | Population | Staffed Beds Per 100,000 Residents |
| 1 | Mississippi | 65 | 9,127 | 2,939,690 | 310 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 108 | 13,834 | 4,573,749 | 302.5 |
| 3 | West Virginia | 34 | 5,343 | 1,770,071 | 301.9 |
| 4 | South Dakota | 23 | 2,668 | 919,318 | 290 |
| 5 | Alabama | 90 | 14,751 | 5,108,468 | 289 |
| 6 | New York | 180 | 55,639 | 19,571,216 | 284 |
| 7 | Kentucky | 72 | 12,665 | 4,526,154 | 280 |
| 8 | Missouri | 81 | 16,530 | 6,196,156 | 267 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 177 | 34,399 | 12,961,683 | 265 |
| 10 | Tennessee | 97 | 18,548 | 7,126,489 | 260 |
The study determined that Mississippi has 65 hospitals and 9,127 staffed beds, which are used by a population of 2,939,690.
Louisiana has a population of 4,573,749, with 13,834 staffed beds across 108 hospitals.
Vermont had the lowest number of staffed hospital beds.
It is not known if Louisiana's high rates of higher-than-average healthcare spending and death rates are responsible for the need for more staffed hospital beds.
John Foy of John Foy & Associates said that while it can be expected that more rural and less densely populated areas have less access to hospital beds like seen in Vermont, seeing such a sharp contrast in the top and bottom states is interesting.
"It shows that in an emergency hospital care may not be immediately ready for you just based on where you live," said Foy. "With 2020 data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showing spending per person on healthcare to be highest in New York, for it to not appear in the top five is worth noting, as it shows residents are spending to still lose out to other states on healthcare availability.”