Impact of administrative technology on acute care bed need

This article reports an evaluation of the impact of three administrative technologies--Admission Scheduling (AS) Systems, Outpatient Surgery (OPS) Programs, and Preadmission Testing (PAT) Programs--on the number of acute care beds required by a hospital. The evaluation mechanism reported here is called the ADTECH Computerized Planning Model. ADTECH uses parameters of each technology, identified from previous literature and discussions with health care professionals, to predict the changes in bed requirements resulting from implementation of these programs. Data from eight hospitals of various characteristics and sizes were run to test the ADTECH model. The results from these test runs indicate that the proper implementation of AS, OPS, and PAT can significantly influence a hospital's required bed complement.