This study evaluated length of stay reduction for adult medicine and adult surgery in the combined hospitals of Syracuse, New York between 1998 and 2016. The study was based on the All Patients Refined Severity of Illness System. Through this approach, it controlled for changes in the degree of illness of hospital populations. The study data indicated that reductions in adult medicine and adult surgery stays in the Syracuse hospitals between 1998 and 2012 reduced the annual number of excess days compared with severity adjusted national averages by 49,000, or an average daily census of 134.2. It appeared that the shift to reimbursement by discharges initiated by Medicare was a major cause of these reductions. The impact of this change was accompanied by length of stay reduction initiatives by the Syracuse hospitals, especially relating to long-term care. Between January-April 2012 and 2016, additional reductions brought the lengths of stay for adult medicine and adult surgery in the combined Syracuse hospitals close to the national average. The study suggested that remaining opportunities for length of stay reductions in Syracuse involved patients with high severity of illness and those discharged to nursing homes.
This study described the evolution of programs to improve the efficiency of patient movement between hospitals and nursing homes in the metropolitan area of Syracuse, New York. These programs were needed in order to improve coordination among providers in the absence of networks that included both acute and long term care providers. The mechanisms included the exchange of data and monitoring the movement of Difficult to Place patients from hospitals to nursing homes. Between 2006 and 2014, the annual number of Difficult to Place patients increased from 983 to 1836. During this period, annual hospital medical/surgical discharges increased by 7.5 percent, severity of illness increased by 13.7 percent, and the population aged 65 years and over increased by 9.8 percent. Most of the Difficult to Place patients were admitted by the four largest facilities in the community, which accounted for 60 percent of the nursing home beds. The initiatives also included Subacute and Complex Care Programs that provided financial incentives for admission of certain types of patients, such as intravenous therapy and extensive wound care. The programs described how these programs were implemented using minimal financial resources and without adding positions to the participating provider organizations.
This study described a series of programs implemented in Syracuse, New York to support the movement of long term acute care patients to skilled nursing facilities. The Difficult to Place Program involved the identification of these patients and the communication of information concerning them between hospitals and nursing homes on a continuing basis. These patients involved approximately 20 percent of new admissions to nursing homes. The Subacute Programs included services such as intravenous therapy and offsite transportation that were not originally available in area nursing homes. The Subacute Program stimulated the development of these services in long term care. The Complex Care Programs have included services for patients with high severity of illness such as multiple intravenous antibiotic therapy and high cost medications. The Subacute and Complex Care Programs included 5-6 percent of Difficult to Place patients. The study demonstrated that these programs reduced the number of annual adult medicine and adult surgery patient days by 2288 between 2011 and 2017.
This study evaluated the impact of length of stay reduction by discharge status in the hospitals of Syracuse, New York. It focused on the two largest inpatient services, adult medicine and adult surgery, between 2008 and 2018. In the Syracuse hospitals, the adult medicine mean length of stay declined by 0.12 days, resulting in a savings of 14,154 patient days during the ten year period. The adult surgery mean stays declined by 0.91 days, resulting in a savings of 22,639 patient days. The reductions in stays were accompanied by differences in utilization by discharge status. For discharges to self care, the changes in mean stays increased the number of days saved for adult medicine from 5111 to 13,264 and the number of days saved for adult surgery from 4355 to 13,862. These changes were brought about through internal efficiencies within the hospitals. For discharges to nursing homes, the reductions in stays caused the number of excess days to decline from 13,631 to 8695 for adult medicine and from 9150 to 5075 for adult surgery. These changes were brought about through cooperative efforts with long term care providers in the community.
The implementation of value based purchasing will bring major changes to the delivery of health care in the United States. This effort is being led by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Medicaid and private insurance plans are developing similar programs. These programs reflect a change in pay or incentives in the direction of primary and ambulatory care at the community level. This study described the use of nursing case management as a tool for monitoring and coordinating the impact of value based programs at the community level. It suggested that, under these programs, nursing case management can contribute to reduction of hospital admissions/discharges, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions. This can be accomplished through monitoring of utilization levels for these indicators. These are major objectives of MACRA and related programs. The study also suggested that nursing case management can contribute to the development of new programs, such as Complex Care, as a means of reaching these objectives. The study included estimates of the costs and benefits of using case management to reduce hospital admissions for low severity of illness patients at the community level. It suggested that the service can provide important opportunities for health planning and development in this area.
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