Organizational initiatives to improve length of stay are complicated by the fact that many lower-acuity patients have already been switched to the outpatient setting, resulting in a more complex population of patients to be cared for and addressed to successfully complete discharge.

In this vein, the emphasis should no longer be thought of strictly from the standpoint of reducing length of stay, but rather adapting care pathways and care delivery to our changing patients’ needs — making necessary process updates to continue to remain an efficient organization.

Targeting underlying complicating conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, respiratory problems, or sepsis is crucial, as is having reliable and consistent processes for admittance, nursing and rounding protocols and proactive discharge planning.

The best practices included in this playbook have proven to be successful with
Optum client organizations and can be adopted to fit the culture and staff of
 your organization. 

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