Addressing hospital length of stay outlier patients: A community wide approach

Ronald  Lagoe; Louise  Pernisi; Mary  Luziani; Shelly  Littau

doi:10.4236/abb.2014.53024

Ronald Lagoe^*, Louise Pernisi, Mary Luziani, Shelly Littau

Abstract: Length of stay outlier patients, who remain in hospitals for extended periods of time, is an important challenge to the improvement of health care efficiency. This study identified outlier patients and programs to address them in the metropolitan area of Syracuse, New York. It demonstrated that, during 2013, outlier patients accounted for 2.4 percent of adult medicine discharges and an excess average daily census of 53.3 patients in the Syracuse hospitals. During 2013, outlier patients accounted for 4.3 percent of adult surgery discharges and an excess average daily census of 44.1 patients. In two studies, the Syracuse hospitals identified the need for multiple intravenous therapy, extensive wound care, and total parenteral nutrition in the community, as major causes of outlier stays in hospitals. Each of the hospitals has developed a program with a long term care facility to address these needs. Efforts to address outlier lengths of stay are also focusing on Potentially Preventable Complications in Syracuse. The mean length of stay for inpatients with post admissions complications was almost three times the stay for the medical/surgical population during 2013.

Keywords: Hospital Utilization; Hospital Lengths of Stay; Hospital Outcomes

Cite this paper: Lagoe, R. , Pernisi, L. , Luziani, M. and Littau, S. (2014) Addressing hospital length of stay outlier patients: A community wide approach. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 5, 188-196. doi: 10.4236/abb.2014.53024.

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