Ep 27 – The 100-Day Challenge to Reduce Hospital LOS – Dr. Walker Keach (Denver Health)
The BetterCare Podcast · EvidenceCare
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Show Notes
EvidenceCare’s Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brian Fengler, interviews Dr. Walker Keach, Medical Director of Hospital Care Management and Patient Flow at Denver Health.
Dr. Keach shares how his team successfully reduced length of stay (LOS) by launching a multimodal improvement initiative—without compromising patient outcomes. Dr. Keach walks us through the urgent 100-day challenge issued by Denver Health’s CEO, how they targeted specific DRGs, leveraged internal data tools, and changed the cultural conversation around LOS. He also addresses common concerns about readmissions and explains why Length of Stay Index (LOSI) is a more actionable metric than average LOS alone.
Key Takeaways:
- A system-wide LOS improvement can start with executive urgency and a focused timeline to drive alignment and momentum.
- LOSI is a more precise, risk-adjusted benchmark that helps identify where excess days truly exist.
- A deep dive into internal analytics enabled care teams to act quickly and target the right cases.
- Reducing LOS didn’t increase readmissions or worsen outcomes, dispelling a common myth about efficiency efforts.
- Sustaining progress depends heavily on team engagement, transparency, and embedding LOS ownership into everyday workflows.
Dr. Walker Keach Bio:
Joseph “Walker” Keach, MD, is the Medical Director of Hospital Care Management and Patient Flow at Denver Health and an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He led a length of stay research initiative titled, Reducing Hospital Length of Stay: A Multimodal Prospective Quality Improvement Intervention, published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
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