Background: Ten to twenty percent of U.S. hospitalizations are avoidable, driven by clinical uncertainty, social factors, or lack of access to ambulatory care [1-3]. These unnecessary admissions result in significant human and financial costs, including in-hospital errors, wasteful spending, and medical debt [4-7]. With hospital occupancy reaching critical levels, we designed and launched the Olive [...]

Background: Partnership with Regional Medical Centers is a growth strategy for Virginia Mason as well as a service to our patients in the community. It is important to maintain our capacity to provide care to all patients wanting to come to Virginia Mason. Deflections, when we turn away patients from outside transferring hospitals, are expensive [...]

Background: Tertiary hospitals and academic medical centers often operate near full capacity while smaller community hospitals have difficulty filling open beds. At our institution, a program was set up to transfer lower acuity patients needing admission from the emergency department of an academic medical center to a community partner hospital for direct admission. This and [...]

Background: Ten to twenty percent of U.S. hospitalizations are avoidable, driven by clinical uncertainty, social factors, or lack of access to ambulatory care [1-3]. These unnecessary admissions result in significant human and financial costs, including in-hospital errors, wasteful spending, and medical debt [4-7]. With hospital occupancy reaching critical levels, we designed and launched the Olive [...]