Innovations in case flow analysis: using midlier variance analysis.

This article presents the use of midlier and case flow analysis during a retrospective chart review to study the costs of hospital length of stay. The results showed that considerable savings can be realized by using these methods for one group of patients with the same diagnosis. We were able to redefine and track patients during their pre-, peri-, and postoperative period and estimated the time and cost opportunities for work flow improvement. We concluded that considerable savings are possible by extending the analysis to patients in other DRG groups.