Ohio air base pressured to fill more hospital beds

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s largest military base is under pressure by the U.S. Department of Defense to fill more beds in its hospital.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton needs to boost the use of its 62-bed inpatient hospital, where the occupancy rate has been about 45 percent. The hospital has set a 70 percent rate as a new benchmark for the hospital, which is the second-largest in the Air Force.

The Defense Health Agency is evaluating health services throughout the military as budgets shrink and numbers of service members in uniform decline. The hospital could be in for some major changes if the numbers continue to fall.

There are no plans to close the hospital, but its status will be re-evaluated next year, Pentagon spokesman Maj. James Brindle told the Dayton Daily News in an email.