The five main external factors that influence the length of stay include regulatory organizations, the economy, competition, patients, and technology. In this case the regulatory environment affects the extent to which the facilities increase of reduce their lengths of stay. Some of the regulatory bodies targeting main script and transcriptions include the Joint Commission, and AHA. They have the face value of either adding of reducing the direct count of LOS within the hospital (Forgione & Younis, 2009).
Second, the economy would also have a significant effect in LOS depending on various forms of cycle period. Freitas et al. (2012) note that economic factors can be an opportunity or threat depending on the industry and perception of interest. In any case, recessions and poor economic backgrounds can increase a hospital’s spending habits. The ultimate effect is a hospital with calls to cut back on its costs thus causing a reduced LOS.
Third, external competition looks into who the close competition are as well as their strategic moves for success. In the healthcare market, competitors differentiate their products through strategic competition. The effect of this factor may, however, be double-edged, with some hospitals choosing to increase their LOS to take care of a going need for quality services. Contrarily, facilities could bank on reduced LOS as a way of turning in large volumes of patient care (Ross, 2008).
Fourth, technologies have been drivers of success in healthcare. The innovation world has, specifically enhanced the cost and essence of doing most hospital operations. Thus, with technology comes the need to streamline service delivery thus reducing LOS. Finally, also related to this driver are the customers or patients that require services. The changing patient demographic towards highly risky populations has increased chances of an increase in the LOS (Lewis & Edwards, 2015).
References
Forgione, D., & Younis, M. (2009). The relationship between the Balanced Budget Act and length of stay for Medicare patients in US hospitals. The European Journal of Health Economics, 10 (1), 57-63.
Freitas, A., Costa, T., Lopes, F., Garcia-Lema, I., Teixeira-Pinto, A., Brazdil, P., & Costa-Pereira, A. (2012). Factors Influencing Hospital High Length of Stay Outliers. BMC Health Services Research, 12 (265), DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-265.
Lewis, R., & Edwards, N. (2015). Improving the length of stay: What can hospitals do? London, UK: Nuffield Trust.
Ross, D. (2008). Healthcare Transitions and the Aging Population: A Framework to Measure the Value of Rapid Rehabilitation. ProQuest: Anna Arbor.
