Cut Turnaround Time with Fast Track

Cut Turnaround Time with Fast Track

With 78,000 adult and pediatric patient visits to its ED annually, Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, FL was highly motivated to increase efficiency of care. And they have. Over the past five months, they've reduced wait time by 60 minutes per patient in the pediatric ED alone.

A 60 minute reduction in turn around time can create room to see an additional 30 patients per day. And if even half of those 30 extra patients are realized, the return on investment is staggering…up to $1.6 million per year. ¹

Institute Calendar

Register for:
The Nuts and Bolts of Service and Operational Excellence in the Emergency Department

> Feb. 28 to March 1
  Nashville, TN

> June 27 to 28
  Las Vegas, NV

> Oct. 10 to 11
  Pensacola Beach, FL

Taking You and Your Organization to the Next Level with Quint Studer

> Feb. 22 to 23
  Los Angeles, CA

> March 22 to 23
    Nashville, TN

> April 26 to 27
  Boston, MA

What’s Right in Health Care
Annual Conference

> June 15 to 16
Atlanta, GA

Focusing Nine Principles® on Food and Environmental Services

> April 11 to 12
Pensacola Beach, FL

How to Do It
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Raising Patient Satisfaction
"Several years ago, our fast track patients were penalized and got angry as they waited for hours in the ED because they didn't have lifethreatening emergencies,” explains Peter Semczuk, Vice President of Clinical Services at Montefiore Medical Centers' three emergency departments in Bronx, NY. (At 194,000 visits annually, Montefiore's EDs are the busiest on the entire East Coast and seventh largest in the country.) "Now we see them right away and they no longer leave in frustration." Montefiore has reduced its Left without Treatment rate at its Weiler ED (recipient of Press-Ganey's prestigious 2005 Compass award) from 5.2% in 2001 to 1.2% in 2005.

On the west coast in San Diego, Dr. Richard Gwinn, Medical Director of Sharp Rees-Stealy's five urgent cares (affiliated with Sharp HealthCare) concurs. He should know. Sharp's urgent care providers were ranked in the 89th percentile at press time for patient satisfaction nationwide (Press-Ganey). "A patient who waits in pain with a fracture for a half hour is not going to be as happy as one who gets medication immediately," he adds, "even if the outcome is the same."
1 Based on an average reimbursement rate for an ED treat/release visit of $300 per patient, this equals $4500 per day or over $1.6 million per year.