Big patients, higher costs

Fifteen million Americans are morbidly obese, or at least 100 pounds overweight, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. Due to the obesity epidemic, hospitals are spending extra money for equipment to accommodate growing numbers of obese patients, and hospitals everywhere are finding the changes expensive. Pennsylvania-based Jefferson Hospital, for example, expects to spend more than $250,000 renting bariatric equipment in 2008.