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Show: January 13, 2013:
- This week on Sound Medicine...
- How does the Affordable Care Act affect taxpayers now?
- How can hiking increase creativity?
- Can hospital observation areas decrease health care spending?
- How can hospitals improve the quality of their care?
- How can lack of sleep lead to depression and learning defecits?
- Will osteoporosis screenings fall victim to budget cuts?
- Are extreme conditioning programs safe?
- View all topics for the week
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Can hospital observation areas decrease health care spending?
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Air date: January 13, 2013
Host: Kathy Miller, MD
Interview: Christopher Baugh, M.D., M.B.A, Medical Director, ED Observation Unit, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
Christopher Baugh, M.D., MBA, is the medical director of the ED Observation Unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Baugh recently conducted a study that concluded observation units could save hospitals $4.6 million a year by avoiding 3,600 unnecessary inpatient admissions. Observation units cut costs by accepting patients after they have been discharged from the emergency room. The observation units consist of eight to 10 beds, each of which can be occupied for up to 24 hours. Currently only one-third of U.S hospitals have observation units.
Additional Resources:
- Learn more about how hospital observation areas could help lower healthcare spending here.
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