Overnight accommodations for visitors and outpatients: a nationwide study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Services
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Growing emphasis on ambulatory care and preadmission testing necessitates evaluating hospital roles in patient and visitor accommodations.
• Minimizing travel and lodging expenses for outpatients and visitors is a key driver for exploring hospital-arranged overnight stays.
• Limited existing literature details the types and scope of overnight accommodation services provided by hospitals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the range of overnight accommodation services arranged by hospitals for patients and visitors.
• To understand the extent of hospital involvement in providing or facilitating these lodging options.
• To address the information gap regarding hospital-facilitated visitor and outpatient accommodations.

Main Methods:

• A nationwide study was initiated by the Patient and Visitor Participation Project at the University of Michigan Hospitals.
• The study aimed to gather comprehensive data on hospital-arranged overnight accommodations.
• The research focused on understanding the variety of arrangements and the level of hospital engagement.

Main Results:

• The study identified a need for clearer information on hospital-provided lodging.
• Existing literature offers only fragmented descriptions of services like hospital-owned hotels or Ronald McDonald Houses.
• The full spectrum of available accommodation arrangements and hospital involvement remains unclear.

Conclusions:

• There is a significant lack of detailed information on hospital overnight accommodation services.
• Hospitals need better data to potentially upgrade services for visitors and outpatients.
• Further research is required to fully characterize and potentially standardize hospital lodging support.