Daily Load Leveling in Surgical Critical Care—The Tip of the Utilization Iceberg

Intensive care uses a disproportionate quantity of US health care resources, accounting for 13% of hospital costs, 15% of hospital beds, and 4% of National Health Expenditures.¹ With the COVID-19 pandemic placing tremendous strain on intensive care unit (ICU) capacity,² optimizing critical care utilization has faced increasing scrutiny. A predictive model for ICU admission such as the one presented by Rozeboom et al³ may help hospital leadership with daily elective surgical schedule smoothing and reduce undesirable downstream effects of planned ICU admissions on emergency department diversion.