As part of each Casemix analysis cycle, we produce a series of customised briefing documents for each member organisation to highlight the hospitals with the lowest and highest lengths of stay.
The briefing documents are designed to highlight those DRGs where the hospital is already achieving lengths of stay well below the group average (the "Low LOS group"), and those DRG where the hospital has a length of stay that is well above the four hospitals with the shortest average length of stay ("the High LOS group").
The briefing documents provide a narrative analysis of the situation, highlighting similarities and differences between your hospital and those with the longest and/or shortest lengths of stay. The idea is to anticipate possible hypotheses about the causes of the difference and provide the relevant analysis. It is up to you to assess the situation and decide if there is an issue you would like to pursue further. We encourage you to contact the "shortest" hospitals to understand how they have achieved their length of stay outcomes. In many cases, the differences will be due to administrative processes, but in others the differences will be due to different approaches to inpatient clinical care.
Please let us know any suggested changes to the analysis process via our contact form.