Safety Net Hospital Improves ED Flow

The Problem

Emergency departments across the nation are being stretched as more Americans rely on them for primary care. ED patient visits climbed 36 percent between 1999 and 2006, according to the CDC. As an urban safety-net hospital, Mount Sinai faced an even tougher challenge. When nearby Bethany Hospital closed and Cook County Hospital, now Stroger Hospital, reduced services, the hospital saw ED visits spike 14 percent between February and June 2006. Mount Sinai now handles more than 58,000 ED visits a year.

The Solution

Dedicated to providing the best urban medical care regardless of a patient's ability to pay, in 2005 Mount Sinai launched a system-wide effort to improve processes. As part of that initiative, the hospital's ED aimed to significantly reduce its lengthy patient wait times and its walk-out rate, which was 10 percent. The situation 'was not congruent with our mission or our vision to be the national model of urban health care delivery,' says. Leslie Zun, MD, chair of Mount Sinai's emergency medicine department.