Workshop will be followed by a 30 minute Question and Answer session with the panelists.

• Financial implications of having an observation unit and what it means for your hospital
• Cost analysis of inpatient vs. observation costs of similar procedures to see where best opportunities rest
• Analyze your hospitals current patient throughput – How can observation medicine improve patient flow?
• What are the key components of success to running an observation unit

• What are the different roles in an observation unit and how does each individual play a key role to ensure the unit runs seamlessly?
• Introduction to various different models of observation units and discuss the pros and cons of each
• How do all of the roles work together to increase throughput efficiency
• Patient breakdown: the optimal number of patients to have as observation status

This session will review the criteria for inpatient and observation admissions to make sure your institution is utilizing the observation unit appropriately. We will discuss how to define each criterion so that the observation unit can become an essential component to patient care and getting optimal readmissions.

• Understand how Medicare classifies patients under the impatient or outpatient criteria
• Learn how to justify medical necessity for inpatient care in appropriate patients
• What are some other uses for Observation unit to help the hospital optimize it’s functionality
• How does clinical research fit in with the observation medicine?
• Hear about lessons learned from mistakes made; including a retrospective practice review to see if opening a unit was worth it