Background: In July 2021, our institution launched the Better Flow Program, aimed at streamlining patient flow by documenting the Medically Ready for Discharge Date (MRDD) and the Discharge Delays (DDs) in the electronic medical record (EMR). The MRDD is the date at which a patient is deemed clinically stable for discharge by their medical team. [...]

Background: Discharge planning plays a critical role in managing hospital length of stay (1). We report on the implementation of a program in a large hospital system where health care providers were requested to estimate and record the Medically Ready for Discharge Date (MRDD) in the electronic health record (EHR) for hospitalized patients to facilitate [...]

Background: Since 2020, UNC Hospitals has increasing numbers of patients who no longer require acute level of care. A portion of these patients have longer length of stay exceeding 30 days while awaiting disposition. This is noticeable in our percentage of long length of stay patients hospitalized 31-60 days (6.8% in 2022 vs 6.0% in [...]