Baptist Health Lexington (Ky.) designed a process using its Epic EHR that helps clinicians and case managers identify common delays that providers encounter when discharging patients.
With Epic's Discharge Milestones tool, case managers, physicians and nurses can complete a checklist in the EHR to identify possible barriers to discharge. The checklist includes basic questions about the patient and their care, such as whether they have the devices, medications and transportation needed to go home.
The tool shortened patients' average length of stay by 0.5 days. It also reduced patient hospital departure times — measured from the point when the provider places a discharge order — by 30 minutes.
Baptist Health Lexington is a 391-bed tertiary care facility that offers services including cancer, heart, neuroscience and stroke care.
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