Length of Stay (LOS) Meaning: Medical Explanation and FAQ

Length of stay, or LOS — meaning (medically speaking) the number of days that a patient remains within a care setting over the course of one admission — is a metric that helps with healthcare facility resource management. Although it’s not relegated exclusively to acute environments, LOS is most often associated with hospital data tracking efforts. However, it’s applicable to any care setting (inpatient or outpatient) toward the goal of optimizing patient outcomes alongside better financial planning and workflow management.

Because it’s commonly used to measure the efficiency of patient flow, LOS as a quality metric can help healthcare leaders better strategize to increase clinical availability to patients who require care. If you’re looking to improve your operational processes, we can help you make the most of this specific metric by answering some common questions and offering tips for best practices.

LOS Meaning: Medical and Organizational Considerations

The LOS meaning (in medical terms) covers the duration of one patient’s admission occurrence — whether that’s minutes, hours, or days (the most commonly tracked). Tracking length of stay (hospital settings-specific or otherwise) can help you plan for the number of new patients that can be seen (or admitted) at any given time. Analysis of this key data helps healthcare leaders better forecast operational needs, driving improved practices around staffing, supply, and revenue cycles.

LOS and Admission Data Tracking: FAQ

You already know the answer to the question, What does LOS mean in medical terms? Let’s go beyond that definition, though, and answer questions to other important points of interest around this analytical tool.

Who uses LOS? Meaning, medical providers like nursing homes or exclusively hospitals?

Although length of stay is most commonly associated with hospital data analysis, it’s reviewed by other providers, too, including assisted living facilities. However, in many of those non-hospital settings, length of stay is frequently called by an alternative name.

For example, because skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) only receive Medicare reimbursement for patients’ first 100 days of care, they often refer to the metric as average Medicare days per stay. Another term commonly employed by SNFs is the clinically anticipated stay (CAS), which covers the analysis for patient LOS trends with those who aren’t insured by Medicare.

How is LOS calculated?

Most often, LOS is calculated by subtracting the admission date from the discharge date, revealing the total number of inpatient days. If an outpatient surgery center were tracking LOS, they may instead use hours, subtracting the admission time from the discharge time and generating the LOS in minutes or hours.

Calculating length of stay example:

For a patient admitted on January 1, then discharged on January 4, the length of stay (in the hospital) formula would look like: 4 minus 1, equaling 3 days. The hospital could then use their length of stay index (LOSi), which compares expected LOS to the actual number, to decide whether those three days aligned with diagnosis-related expectations.

What’s the benefit of monitoring patient LOS data?

By establishing patterns in LOS, hospitals and other providers are better equipped to forecast and plan around operational needs like:

• Patient bed (or appointment) availability.
• Staffing needs.
• Supply requirements and inventory management.
• Cost management.
• Reimbursement optimization (by ensuring patients’ LOSs don’t exceed coverage limits, for example).
• Patient experience and satisfaction (through reduced wait times and quicker service delivery, for example).

Is there an average LOS or standard goal for LOS?

The average length of stay (ALOS) in a given facility is calculated by totaling the individual LOS data points then dividing by the sample size number. For example, if in the first three days of the year, that same hospital had five patients who stayed 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days each, the ALOS for that time period would be:

(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5) divided by 5 = 3 (days)

Although there’s no one set average LOS that spans all care facilities, hospital lengths of stay are tracked by state. South Dakota and Utah currently have the lowest hospital ALOS at 3.4 days (each). The U.S. average length of stay in hospitals is 4.7 days for inpatients.

Goals for LOS also vary, depending on the facility and clinical characteristics (like demographics, diagnosis, and risk factors). Often, facility-set benchmarks are informed by external organizations like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Who is responsible for tracking LOS (meaning, medical professionals vs. administration)?

Again, this may vary by facility, but the healthcare professionals most often responsible for LOS data use and management include some of the roles listed below.

Although they’re not directly referenced, physicians often work with case management around expected LOS, using it to guide their treatment approaches and care goals. They may also drive updates to the projected LOS when complications or additional care needs arise.

What happens if a patient isn’t ready for discharge when they meet their LOS benchmark?

Fluctuating length of stays and overstays can complicate patient flow, leading to reduced capacity and longer wait times for patients (both in the inpatient and outpatient setting). However, the best possible patient outcome is always the primary objective of any care team, and a patient’s ongoing requirement for care will always take precedence over a predetermined benchmark discharge date.

How Can Facilities Safely Lower LOS?

Research-backed methods for safely lowering LOS averages among facilities include many recommendations, from the more obvious (better discharge planning) to some more surprising initiatives (like employing hospitalists in hospital settings).

• A team-led approach to discharge planning, reviewed throughout the patient stay.

• Utilizing geriatric assessments (and/or consultations) from a specialist to help coordinate expert-backed, age-specific care for elderly patients.

• Better medication management to address patient risk factors and minimize the risk of medication errors that may prolong admissions.

• Implementing standardized clinical pathways for better management of ongoing, chronic conditions like congestive heart failure.

• Using an interdisciplinary (or multidisciplinary) approach to streamline communication and participation between services and disciplines, defragmenting the patient’s overall healthcare experience.

• Bolstering case management services and availability to help maintain LOS targets and improve discharge planning and oversight.

• Employing hospitalists (or in-house doctors), facilitating smoother teamwork and communication through proximity, familiarity, and shared goals.

• Widespread use of telehealth to increase the availability of outpatient care and to expedite inpatient conferences with physicians and other care team members who may struggle to see patients in person in a timely manner.

Looking for Other Metrics to Guide More Efficient Workflow?

Having a better understanding of LOS (meaning, medical patients’ total inpatient time) can help you to optimize patient flow and clinical operations. Want to learn about other key metrics worth tracking? Don’t miss out on our latest healthcare management insights so you can keep your facility ahead of the curve.