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Baltimore hospital cuts patient LOS

Case Management Weekly, November 30, 2005

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By arranging shorter waits for procedures and tests and improving discharge planning, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, has cut patient stays from 5.93 days in 2002 to 5.7 days in 2005.

The hospital has also reduced insurance company denials from 2.08 days for every 100 patient days in 2001 to 1.97 days in 2004.

Hospital officials said that the effort began after a nearby community hospital closed in 2000, increasing demand for Hopkins' 850 beds. Executives and doctors reviewed 200 procedures and 5,000 patient files to find ways to reduce hospital stays.

As one example, the hospital discovered that patients with congestive heart failure were spending six or seven days in the hospital partly because of a one- to two-day delay in ultrasound results needed before they could be discharged. The hospital instituted a same-day turnaround on ultrasounds.

Source: United Press International (UPI)

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