One THCB reader apparently was boring their partner about this, and seeing eyes glaze over got so steamed up they decided to write to THCB:

I was at a health care board meeting last night (the organization involved must go unnamed) where a new 100 bed hospital was approved for $220,000,000!!!! $2,200,000 per bed/room. (slightly higher since they are building the infrastructure to later support construction for more beds, but nonetheless even at half the price….)

Are we nuts? I believe the Plaza Hotel on 5th ave in NYC sold recently for only $1,000,000 per room. What sort of reimbursed revenues will be necessary to recoup that investment? I don’t fault our little hospital group, but this seems to me a damning statement about the status of the US health care system. It’s simply not sustainable at such ridiculous levels of investment (AND with the lower levels of clinical outcome we get for all this dough, it’s a travesty.) I wonder what a new hospital in Europe goes for?

Good question. Anyone got an answer?