Discharge planning effect on length of hospital stay.

The impact of discharge planning was measured in 3 community hospitals by comparing the annual median length of stay by diagnosis for 2 years before and for 2 years after the introduction of discharge planning. Congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and fractured hip were the diagnoses studied. Either cataract or benign prostatic hypertrophy served as the control diagnosis. Criteria were established to identify changes in length of stay which could be attributed to discharge planning. The results indicated that with the onset of discharge planning, the length of stay increased for some diagnoses and decreased for others at each hospital. The effect among the hospitals also appears to have been inconsistent.