Acute Care Surgery Practice Boosted Hospital Income

At Baptist, there was an increase in elective surgeries because the acute care service addressed a backlog. And it freed up capacity in the operating room: Some surgeries – like gallbladders – could be moved to night.

There is an agreement among the Wake Forest Baptist surgeons that those who are there at night can decide whether to operate; but if they are not there at night, they also should not refuse to take a case that requires their help then, Dr. Meredith said.

He added that patient outcomes had improved since the institution of the acute care service. Length of stay for emergency surgery has dropped from 10 days to 8 days.