Length of Stay (LOS)
Category: business
The average duration, in days, that a patient spends admitted in the hospital from intake to discharge.
LOS is a critical operational efficiency metric. Hospitals aggressively manage LOS through clinical pathways—standardized treatment roadmaps that ensure patients receive diagnostic tests and therapies in the optimal sequence, minimizing "non-clinical days" where the patient remains hospitalized purely for administrative logistics.
Common Examples
- We reduced the average length of stay for post-operative joint replacement patients by streamlining the physical therapy consult workflow.
- Clinical pathways map every stage of the length of stay to ensure patients transition to home care as soon as they meet recovery milestones.