According to the National Center for Health Care (NCHC), emergency department (ED) crowding has been a concern in U.S. hospitals for more than a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report the number of visits to EDs rose 19 percent from 1995 to 2005, even as the number of EDs decreased by 9 percent. Increased demand for ED treatment has a negative impact on both patients and care givers: Patients do not receive the care they deserve, and revenue is lost if patients are not treated in a timely manner.

Given this challenging issue in the ED, some forward-thinking hospitals are taking proactive steps to improve patient satisfaction and drive wait time down dramatically. Simpler Healthcare has worked with hospitals to implement lean management to achieve better results, and an excellent example of this is illustrated in the results Covenant Health System’s ED found.

Background

Covenant Health System is part of St. Joseph Health System, one of the most successful nonprofit health systems in the United States. The system is comprised of four cornerstone facilities and a network of 14 managed community hospitals.

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