Length of Stay of Accountable Care Organizations

For the fifth part of my research, I took a look at the length of stay of patients. I specifically looked at established ACO organizations and I compared them to well known non – ACOs. Length of stay  has been increasing over the past decade and will most likely continue to increase due to physicians keeping their patients in the hospital longer in order in order to cut down on readmissions. ACOs are designed to reduce length of stay.

 Length of Stay Statistics

Length of Stay – Accountable Care Organization
Beth Israel Deaconess   -   16,191
Brigham and Women’s Hospital -  266,601
Dartmouth – Hitchcock / Cigna    -  115,535
Doctors Medical Center / Blue Cross Blue Shield   -    112,122
Hoag Hospital / Blue Cross Blue Shield  – 133,761
Methodist Dallas Medical Center / Texas Health Resources      -   104,985
Montefiore Medical Center    -   503,215
Norton Hospital / Humana   -   333,878
St. Joseph’s Hospital (California) / Blue Cross Blue Shield   -  92,367

Total Patient Days -  1,678,655

Length of Stay – Non-Accountable Care Organizations
Centennial Medical Center (HCA)   -   150,013
Emory University Hospital – 162,578
Gateway Medical Center (CHS)       -  47,756
Massachusetts General Hospital     -  287,624
Ochsner Medical Center  – 12,501
Tulane Medical Center (HCA)  – 73,986
University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital – 290,837
University of Kentucky -  189,230
Vanderbilt University Medical Center  – 282,547

Total Patient Days – 1,497,072

 Length of Stay of Accountable Care Organizations high

Patients in Accountable Care Organizations wind up staying in the hospital longer than patients in Non Accountable Care  Organizations (ACOs). ACOs are designed to decrease the length of stay but it is apparent that they are failing to do so. For more information, please read the annual reports of the hospitals listed above. For complete results of my research, please view post ” Accountable Care Organizations Are Failing.”