as a result korea now has the second highest number of hospital beds per population after japan oecd a this huge expansion in hospital capacity has been accompanied by a strong rise in hospital admissions as well as in the average length of stay in hospital this contrasts with the experience in other countries like italy and france where the number of hospital beds and hospitalisation rates have been reduced significantly even though progress has been achieved in recent years in reducing these potentially avoidable admissions further efforts are needed to fill the gaps in the management of these conditions outside hospital to avoid unnecessary and costly hospital use