Abstract
In April 2005, one year after the automatization of the National Universities, a Regional Cooperation Unit (RCU) was introduced to the Hamamatsu Medical University Hospital. This unit appoints first time consultations to patients as requested by regional practitioners, and is responsible for offering information as to the open units to regional practitioners. After performing a market research concerning regional institutions, we reorganized the organization and information system at the hospital. For the newly created RCU, new staff was recruited and a hotline from regional practitioners was also introduced. Also, a data filing system to evaluate the trend of outpatients was newly established.
One and a half year after the RCU's establishment, the hospital experiences an increase of nearly 100 new outpatients per day as well as a 10% increase of referred patients. At present, 55% of all new outpatients apply by way of the RCU system. Moreover, although ALOS is decreasing to 18days on average, bed occupation rate is maintained at 80-85%. In conclusion, even though changing to a public corporation first seemed to be difficult for national universities, it turned out to be a challenge that offered great opportunities and continuous efforts seem to be important.
