TITLE:
Estimating the Potential for Reduction of Hospital Capacity at the Community Level
AUTHORS:
Ronald Lagoe, Shelly Littau
KEYWORDS:
Hospital Utilization, Hospital Admissions, Hospital Readmissions, Hospital Lengths of Stay
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.7 No.4,
April
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: This study estimated the potential impact of the nationwide shift from inpatient to outpatient care
in the hospitals of Syracuse, New York, a small metropolitan area with a relatively stable population.
The study employed the 3MTM All Patients Refined Diagnosis Group Severity of Illness system
to identify inpatients and related utilization with the greatest potential for movement from inpatient
to outpatient settings. The study data suggested that the development of additional ambulatory
care capacity in Syracuse could support the reduction of an average daily census of approximately
60 - 125 patients with low severity of illness, excluding readmissions. The study data also
identified the potential for shifting an average daily census of approximately 9 - 19 patients who
were readmitted to hospitals within 30 days of their initial admissions from inpatient to outpatient
care. The study data also identified the potential for reduction of an average daily census of
approximately 20 - 70 adult medicine and adult surgery patients through continued initiatives for
inpatient length of stay reduction. The impact of initiatives in each of these areas could result in a
reduction of the combined average daily adult medicine and adult surgery census of the Syracuse
hospitals from approximately 90 to 215 patients. This would amount to between 8 and 20 percent
of the current inpatient census for adult medicine and adult surgery. These data suggest that
planning for initiatives such as ambulatory care development and reduction of readmissions
should also include evaluation of their impact on inpatient acute care and related services.