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STUDY OBJECTIVE: Some have suggested that emergency department (ED) boarding is prevalent because it maximizes revenue as hospitals prioritize non-ED admissions, which reimburse higher than ED admissions. We explore the revenue implications to the overall hospital of reducing boarding in the ED. METHODS: We quantified the revenue effect of reducing boarding-the balance of higher ED demand and the reduction of non-ED admissions-using financial modeling informed by regression analysis and discrete-event simulation with data from 1 inner-city teaching hospital during 2 years (118,000 ED visits, 22% ED admission rate, 7% left without being seen rate, 36,000 non-ED admissions). Various inpatient bed management policies for reducing non-ED admissions were tested. RESULTS: Non-ED admissions generated more revenue than ED admissions ($4,118 versus $2,268 per inpatient day). A 1-hour reduction in ED boarding time would result in $9,693 to $13,298 of additional daily revenue from capturing left without being seen and diverted ambulance patients. To accommodate this demand, we found that simulated management policies in which non-ED admissions are reduced without consideration to hospital capacity (ie, static policies) mostly did not result in higher revenue. Many dynamic policies requiring cancellation of various proportions of non-ED admissions when the hospital reaches specific trigger points increased revenue. The optimal strategies tested resulted in an estimated $2.7 million and $3.6 in net revenue per year, depending on whether left without being seen patients were assumed to be outpatients or mirrored ambulatory admission rates, respectively. CONCLUSION: Dynamic inpatient bed management in inner-city teaching hospitals in which non-ED admissions are occasionally reduced to ensure that EDs have reduced boarding times is a financially attractive strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objective: We assess hospital readmission and death within 60 days in older adults admitted from the emergency department (ED) and discharged by an inpatient service within 24 hours., Methods: This was a retrospective review of ED patients aged 64 years or older, admitted from 2 hospitals (2004 to 2006), who were discharged home within 24 hours. Excluded were in-hospital deaths, observation admissions, transfers to other facilities, patients who left against medical advice, and hospice patients. Outcomes were 72-hour and 30-day readmissions and postdischarge deaths that occurred within 60 days of ED admission. Logistic regression was used to assess for predictors of readmission. A chart review of deaths after discharge was performed to assess for potential contributors to adverse outcomes., Results: A total of 1,470 admissions met inclusion criteria as 1-day admissions. Of those, 22 (1.5%) patients returned for hospital readmission within 72 hours and 156 (10.6%) within 30 days of discharge. In the multivariable analysis, previous admissions (odds ratio [OR] 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 1.4) and an admission diagnosis of heart failure (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.0 to 5.0) were associated with 30-day readmission. In 841 individual patients with greater than or equal to one 1-day admission, there were 15 deaths (1.8%) within 60 days. Of those, 11 (73%) patients had abnormal ED ECG results, 6 (40%) were ruled out for acute myocardial infarction while hospitalized, and 3 (20%) had definitive follow-up arranged at discharge., Conclusion: One-day admissions in hospitalized older adults through the ED do not represent a group at low risk for postdischarge adverse outcomes., (Copyright (c) 2009. Published by Mosby, Inc.)