Manipal adopts ERAS practices to cut patient stay length

Manipal has decided to implement Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) practices to improve the lives of its patients undergoing surgical procedures and cut their average length of stay at its hospitals.

ERAS programmes, which have been applied across the globe, have been shown to improve clinical outcomes in patients who go under the knife.

The move will help the Bengaluru-based chain make more beds available for new patients and boost its average revenue per occupied bed.

“Charges to a patient bed during the patient's stay in a hospital are typically front-loaded and taper off towards the end of the stay. So, as average length of stay gets optimised, the average revenue per occupied bed for the hospital is also expected to firm up,” said Kaustav Ganguli, the managing director of consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.

Bengaluru-based Manipal has got a certification from the ERAS Society, whose mission is to develop perioperative care and to improve patient recovery. The perioperative period typically includes ward admission, anaesthesia, surgery, and recovery. Some of the main ERAS principles include counselling before the operation, carbohydrate loading up to two hours before the surgery and regulated anaesthetic regimens.

“The length of stay will become half,” said Dr. Somashekhar S P, the Chairman & HOD of Surgical Oncology at Manipal Hospital in Kodihalli.

Manipal, which has been piloting these practices in its oncology, gynaecology, and gastroenterology departments at a few hospitals in Bengaluru, will expand it to other departments and locations.

"We expect the bed utilisation to go up by 25% in three-odd years due to the implementation of this and slowly in the medium to long term we will see it reflecting in the revenue,” Manipal Hospitals Chief Executive Officer Dilip Jose told DH.

Patients who were part of the pilot were given a carbohydrate drink prior to the surgery and put on a liquid diet for seven days after the operation, among other things. Manipal treated 2000 patients as part of the pilot and will make the new practices mandatory at all its Bengaluru branches within the next six months.

Check out latest DH videos here