Critical care medicine as a distinct product line with substantial financial profitability: The role of business planning

Abstract

We were able to define the critical care product line, and we were able to demonstrate profitability through an analysis of revenue and expenses related to critical care services. Our experience suggests that the concept of critical care as a product line, in addition to a hospital service, may lead to a useful analysis of this new discipline. This plan provided a rational foundation for development of the operating and capital budgets for the health system.

Increasing Length of Stay Among Adult Visits to U.S. Emergency Departments, 2001–2005

“…In 1986, the U.S. Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) that requires EDs to provide stabilizing care to all presenting patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Unfortunately, EMTALA does not include provisions to adequately compensate hospitals for this care, leading some authors to describe EMTALA as an unfunded mandate 33,34 . EDs are a major point of access to health care for the more than 47 million uninsured.…”

Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase in respiratory diseases

“…From human studies with L-NMMA in sepsis it was already known that concomitant inhibition of constitutive isoforms may be detrimental at least under acute inflammatory conditions, putatively due to increased pulmonary pressure and excessive vasoconstriction of pulmonary vessels by inhibiting eNOS [46].…”

Economic stress and misaligned incentives in critical care medicine in the United States

“…Critical care can be considered to be its own product line and can be promoted as a separate business (40). A business approach to critical care has been demonstrated to increase admissions and profitability.…”