Providing acute inpatient care, short-stay hospitals lie at the heart of the hospital infrastructure that serves over 62 million Americans with Medicare Part A insurance.  As of the calendar year 2020, across the nation there were nearly 3,500 short-stay hospitals, with almost 775,000 beds, participating in the Medicare program. In 2020, the twelve-state Southeastern U.S. was home to more than 17 million Medicare Part A enrollees.  These enrollees were served by 954 short-stay hospitals, with over 223,500 beds, that participated in the Medicare program.  Here is a state-level breakdown of Medicare short-stay hospital beds in the Southeastern U.S.:

Medicare Short Stay Hospital Beds in the Southeastern U.S.

	# Part A Enrollees		# Hospitals	# Beds
AL	1,056,359		83	16,309
AR	645,494		49	9,448
FL	4,674,019		181	59,371
GA	1,754,062		108	20,349
KY	931,126		62	14,490
LA	882,812		87	14,702
MS	609,478		62	10,742
NC	2,028,204		86	22,130
SC	1,101,105		58	11,696
TN	1,382,574		81	21,060
VA	1,540,473		73	17,242
WV	442,495		24	5,992
Region	17,048,200		954	223,531
National*	62,498,751		3,481	774,873
% of National	27.3%		27.4%	28.8%

* National totals include U.S. territories

Source:  CMS Program Statistics, Table: MDCR PROVIDERS 4. Medicare Providers:  Number of Medicare Certified Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities, and Number of Beds, by State, Territories, Possessions, and Other, Calendar Year 2020