Medical countermeasures during public health emergencies—Does information sharing among health system coalition help?
研究了新冠疫情期间基于治疗的医疗对策对ICU床位利用率的影响，发现参与区域健康登记系统的医院能更有效地降低床位占用，而未参与的医院反而出现资源过载。
Abstract Challenged by constrained healthcare resources, hospitals encounter barriers to accommodating patient demand during public health emergencies. Building on a comprehensive literature review of information and knowledge exchange in healthcare, disaster management, and humanitarian operations management, this study explores the influence of treatment‐based medical countermeasures (T‐MCM) on ICU bed utilization during the Covid‐19 pandemic, investigating whether participation in a regional health registry (HReg) facilitates better management of care capacities. We use a difference‐in‐differences approach with propensity score weighting to analyze a panel dataset of 735 observations from Michigan hospitals, finding that health systems that used T‐MCMs experienced modest reductions of 1.8% of ICU bed utilization. However, the reduction increased by an additional 27.1% among hospitals that participated in the HReg. Hospitals that used T‐MCMs without HReg participation experienced a 10.8% increase in ICU bed utilization, suggesting resource overload. These results underscore the importance of adaptive learning and strategic investment in information‐sharing infrastructures to optimize healthcare delivery during crises. We discuss theoretical, managerial, and policy implications when managing healthcare capacity during pandemics.