ZLC Seminar Series: Lijie Song

"Reducing Length of Stay in Hospital Emergency Rooms through Process Redesign"

Abstract

Point of care (POC) testing is becoming increasingly popular in US hospitals as a way to speed up testing processes, reduce patient length of stay, and improve patient satisfaction. This study uses propensity score matching (PSM) to generate quasi-control group, and test the impact of POC versus central lab testing on patient length of stay, using two years of patient data collected at an American hospital. Our analysis shows a significant reduction in service for patients who undergo POC testing, a reduction in waiting time for all patients as well as a reduction in 72-hour bounceback rate.