6 Evidence-Based Ways to Improve Hospital Efficiency

Brandon Daniell
23 minutes ago
6 min read

Key Takeaways on Ways to Improve Hospital Efficiency

Moving discharge times to 8am and pairing nurse-led planning with post-discharge telemonitoring can reduce length of stay and cut readmissions by 15%
ERAS protocols featuring early mobilization and multimodal pain control reduce hospital stays by up to 2.6 days on average
A HIPAA-compliant two-way texting platform can eliminate thousands of staff phone calls and reduce readmissions by as much as 82%
Risk stratification that tailors follow-up intensity to individual patient needs can prevent 40 to 70 percent of readmissions before they happen
Specialized hospital wings and structured multidisciplinary rounds both reduce length of stay while improving patient outcomes and satisfaction

Rethink Your Discharge Planning Process

Morning Discharges Could Eliminate 4-Hour Bed Wait Times

One of the biggest bottlenecks in hospital operations comes down to a simple timing mismatch.

Patients who arrive between 7 and 10am often wait an average of four hours for a bed - not because the hospital is full, but because most discharges happen in the afternoon after morning rounds.

Research suggests that moving discharge times to as early as 8am could eliminate these excessive wait times for morning bed requests.

Effective discharge planning goes beyond picking a time slot, though.

It requires comprehensive assessments of each patient's medical, psychological, and social needs, followed by a coordinated plan for follow-up care.

When hospitals invest in tailored discharge plans, they see results: studies show a mean reduction of 0.73 days in initial length of stay and a slight decrease in readmission rates for older patients.

Pairing nurse-led discharge planning with post-discharge telemonitoring pushes outcomes even further, reducing readmission rates by 15% and shortening stays by an additional 1.2 days on average.

Adopt Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocols

ERAS protocols offer a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for perioperative care that addresses nutrition, pain management, and physical activity all at once.

The results speak for themselves: patients in enhanced recovery programs experience an average reduction of 2.6 days in hospital length of stay.

Early mobilization sits at the core of these protocols.

The idea is simple - get patients walking within hours of surgery rather than keeping them in bed.

This approach helps prevent complications like deep vein thrombosis and pneumonia.

Patients mobilized early after colorectal surgery leave the hospital 1.5 to 3 days sooner than those on traditional protocols.

For total hip and knee replacements, early mobilization is associated with a 1.9-day reduction in length of stay.

Multimodal pain control is another key component.

Rather than relying solely on opioids, this approach combines regional anesthesia with non-opioid analgesics like NSAIDs and acetaminophen.

Patients managed this way experience better pain relief, faster mobilization, and a 0.36-day reduction in hospital stay compared to opioid-only regimens.

One important note: ERAS protocols may need to be tailored for high-risk or elderly populations, where a standardized approach might not fit every patient's needs.

Implement a HIPAA-Compliant Two-Way Texting Platform

Two-Way Texting Eliminated 75,000 Phone Calls in 60 Days

Phone calls consume an enormous amount of staff time - and most of them go unanswered anyway.

A HIPAA-compliant two-way texting platform can dramatically reduce this burden while improving patient engagement.

Consider results communication.

One urgent care system eliminated 75,000 phone calls in just 60 days by texting patients their negative COVID-19 test results instead of calling each one individually.

That freed physicians to spend significantly more time with patients who actually needed face-to-face care.

For discharge follow-up, a hospital emergency department cut 70% of its post-discharge calls and saved 523 staff hours annually.

The system texted patients after they left, then routed only those who requested a callback to nursing staff.

Everyone else got the information they needed without a single phone call.

Post-operative workflows see similar gains.

One ambulatory surgery center reduced its post-op phone call workload by 92% through automated survey texts.

Of the patients who received the text, 1,301 responded positively and required no follow-up call at all.

For patient referrals, a hospital metabolic and nutrition department reached 95% of referral patients via automated text, saving more than 524 staff hours that would have been spent leaving voicemails and making repeat calls.

When unexpected events require mass communication, the efficiency gap widens even further.

A physician group used two-way texting to reach over 4,000 patients in under 10 minutes, saving an estimated 14,000+ staff hours compared to individual phone calls.

Our case studies show outcomes that go beyond time savings.

One surgical facility achieved an 82% reduction in readmissions within 90 days while saving 20 staff hours - simply by replacing TJR and endoscopy-related phone calls with automated text campaigns.

For hospitals serving diverse patient populations, multi-language translation capabilities make a measurable difference.

Organizations using these features have seen a 380% increase in response rates and a 66% reduction in same-day cancellations.

Take a Closer Look at What's Driving Readmissions

Hospital readmissions cost $15 billion annually in the United States. Of that, $12 billion is potentially preventable.

A 2008 report to Congress found that 17% of Medicare patients were readmitted within 30 days - a number that hasn't improved as much as it should have.

Length of stay plays a role here.

Patients who end up readmitted within 30 days had an initial stay averaging 6.87 days, compared to 5.18 days for those who weren't readmitted.

That correlation suggests something is going wrong before these patients ever leave.

Many hospitals use online readmission risk calculators, but these tools have a significant limitation: they estimate the likelihood of return without telling you what to actually do about it.

A more effective approach involves risk stratification that shapes follow-up schedules based on individual patient needs.

Design more aggressive follow-up for high-risk patients while freeing up resources from low-risk ones.

Research shows this method can identify and mitigate 40 to 70 percent of readmissions before they result in an emergency return.

Our case studies back this up.

One hospital used two-way texting as part of a strategic approach to address high readmission rates and eliminated its reimbursement penalty entirely for FY24.

Is the Right Patient in the Right Bed?

Right Bed Placement Cut Length of Stay by 7.3%

When patients get assigned to the wrong hospital unit, the downstream effects add up quickly: treatment delays, prolonged stays, and increased complications.

The "right patient, right bed" approach to emergency department admissions significantly reduces these placement errors and streamlines care delivery.

Take the University of Chicago Medicine as an example.

Before implementing dedicated care wings, general-medicine patients sometimes occupied almost a third of hospital beds.

This created backlogs that delayed procedures for other patients - including those with scheduled surgeries.

The solution was specialized hospital wings that group patients by condition type.

After making this change, the hospital saw average length of stay drop by 7.3%.

These wings work because they allow hospitals to better coordinate physicians, nurses, and specialized equipment in one place.

Busy hospitals benefit the most from this model.

When patients are willing to wait for a bed in a specialized unit, the efficiency gains compound.

One consideration worth noting: patients whose conditions don't fit neatly into a designated wing can lose access.

A networked solution - where one hospital specializes in certain care areas while a nearby hospital covers others - can help prevent these access disparities.

Build Care Teams That Actually Communicate

Multidisciplinary teams typically include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, and other specialists working together on patient care.

The goal is straightforward: minimize delays in diagnostics, treatment, and discharge by keeping everyone on the same page.

The data supports this approach. Structured multidisciplinary rounds reduced length of stay by 0.8 days on average while also improving patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes.

For heart failure patients specifically, these rounds were associated with a significant reduction in 30-day readmission rates - suggesting the benefits extend well beyond the hospital walls.

In critical care settings, the impact is even more pronounced.

Integrating a specialized neurocritical care team with a full-time neurointensivist led to reductions in both hospital mortality and length of stay.

Why does communication matter so much?

Patients often receive care from multiple physicians at different facilities.

Without clear information sharing, redundancies creep in - like ordering a second X-ray because the first one's results weren't visible in the system.

That said, effectiveness varies.

Post-surgical recovery and critical care settings tend to see stronger results from multidisciplinary approaches than general medical conditions.

The key is matching the intensity of coordination to the complexity of the patient population.