Economic impact of an emergency hospitalization unit

Palacios Marín G, Emparan García De Salazar C

Objective: To determine the economic impact of an emergency department short-stay

unit in comparison with conventional hospitalization, and to analyze length of stay in

the unit and effectiveness of care.

Methods: Retrospective, descriptive study comparing management and case

characteristics of admissions to the short-stay unit with admissions to a conventional

ward of a level 1 hospital serving a population of 80 000 in January 2006 to September

2007. Quantitative variables were reported as medians and qualitative variables as

absolute frequencies. Data environment analysis was used for the analysis of costs.

Results: The median hospital stay was significantly shorter for patients in the emergency

department short-stay unit (1.3 days) than for those admitted to the conventional ward

(4.1 days) (P<.001), even after case-mix adjustment (1.31 days). The economic savings from short-stay unit admission was €736.39/patient admitted, giving overall savings of 1062 bed-days and €270 744. Conclusions: The introduction of the emergency short-stay unit accelerated access to hospital admission. Savings resulted from the efficient use of resources, particularly the use of hospital beds.

Emparan García De Salazar C, Palacios Marín G