© 2008 delmar cengage learning. chapter 6 length of stay/discharge days
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© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning. 3 Terms Discharge –Termination of hospitalization is written –Death is a discharge Against medical advice (AMA) –Patient leaves the hospital without a written order or approval to leaveTRANSCRIPT
© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.
Chapter 6
Length of Stay/Discharge Days
© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.
2
Hospital Utilization• Length of stay and discharge days
– Manage utilization of services• Discharge days
– Analyze and compare groups of patients by disease, treatment, age, procedures, provider
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Terms• Discharge
– Termination of hospitalization is written– Death is a discharge
• Against medical advice (AMA)– Patient leaves the hospital without a written
order or approval to leave
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Terms• Discharge disposition and leave of
absence– Inpatient can be discharged home, to another
facility, to an outpatient setting, or has died– Outpatient is discharged home, to another
outpatient setting, or has died
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Terms• Leave of absence patient is not present
at census-taking hour between admission and discharge– Is still considered an inpatient
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Length of Stay• Calculated for each patient upon
discharge• Total number of days the patient was
hospitalized and received services– Calculate by subtracting the date of
admission from the date of discharge– Compiled at the time of discharge or death
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Length of Stay• LOS
– Number of calendar days from admission to discharge for each individual inpatient
• Synonymous terms include:– Days of service– Duration of hospitalization– Discharge days (DD)
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Calculating LOS• Count each day of an inpatient stay
except the day of discharge– Example: – LOS for a patient admitted on July 15 and
discharged July 18:• Count July 15, 16, 17, but not July 18 = 3
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Calculating Short LOS• Admitted and discharged the same day:
– Patient received 1 day of services– LOS = 1
• Admitted one day and discharged the next day:– Patient received 1 day of services – LOS = 1
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Calculating Long LOS• Count each day of an inpatient stay except
the day of discharge– Long length of stays can include many
months– Remember number of days in a month to
calculate long LOS
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Calculating Long LOS• Example:
– Admitted January 1, discharged Feb 28. Jan = 31 + Feb = 28 – day of discharge
– LOS = 58 days
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Total Length of Stay• Sum of the days of stay of all inpatients,
or a group of patients– Discharged during a specified period of time
such as a date, week, month, or year• Synonymous term
– Discharge days
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Average Length of Stay• Average Length of Stay (ALOS)
– Average length of hospitalization of a group of inpatients discharged during a period of time such as a date, week, month, or year
• Most common use of discharge days is in determining the average length of stay
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Average LOS • Compute adults and children separate
from newborn– Formula for adults and children:
• Total LOS (discharge days)/total discharges
• Formula for newborn:– Total NB length of stay (discharge days)/total
newborn discharges