Citation

Falvo T, Grove L, Stachura R, Zirkin W. Acad. Emerg. Med. 2007; 14(1): 58-62.

Affiliation

Health Services Design Section, Department of Emergency Medicine, York Hospital, WellSpan Health System, York, PA, USA. tfalvo@wellspan.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1197/j.aem.2006.06.056

PMID

17200514

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Admission process delays and other throughput inefficiencies are a leading cause of emergency department (ED) overcrowding, ambulance diversion, and patient elopements. Hospital capacity constraints reduce the number of treatment beds available to provide revenue-generating patient services. The objective of this study was to develop a practical method for quantifying the revenues that are potentially lost as a result of patient elopements and ambulance diversion. METHODS: Historical data from 62,588 patient visits to the ED of a 450-bed nonprofit community teaching hospital in central Pennsylvania between July 2004 and June 2005 were used to estimate the value of potential patient visits foregone as a result of ambulance diversion and patients leaving the ED without treatment. RESULTS: The study hospital may have lost 3,881,506 dollars in net revenue as a result of ambulance diversions and patient elopements from the ED during a 12-month period. CONCLUSIONS: Significant revenue may be foregone as a result of throughput delays that prevent the ED from utilizing its existing bed capacity for additional patient visits.

Language: en