Wilmington, Del.-based ChristianaCare is seeing early progress under a new initiative to lower both length of inpatient stay and contract labor costs.
Contract labor costs, for example, have been on a downward trend since a high of almost $5.5 million in July 2022 to total $3.3 million in Oct. 2022, well below budget forecasts. Such costs are predicted to decline further with a low of $2.7 million in June 2023, Christiana said in a presentation.
The focus on contract labor cost reduction is part of an initiative called Project Bedrock. The initiative also includes a focus on the reduction of inpatient length of stays over 30 days, which has also been on a general downward trend since late Sept. 2022, Christiana said.
Christiana, which presented such findings at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference earlier this month, operates three hospitals, a freestanding emergency department and several other facilities, employing over 12,000 people.
The system was among ten highlighted in December for having strong financials, with Moody's expecting it to return to near pre-pandemic level margins in the medium term.