ER Inspector ST LUKE'S HOSPITAL BETHLEHEMST LUKE'S HOSPITAL BETHLEHEM

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Updated September 19, 2019

This database was last updated in September 2019. It should only be used as a historical snapshot.Researchers can find more recent data on timely and effective care in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ hospitals datasets and guidance about hospital regulations.

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ER Inspector » Pennsylvania » ST LUKE'S HOSPITAL BETHLEHEM

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ST LUKE'S HOSPITAL BETHLEHEM

801 ostrum street, bethlehem, Pa. 18015

(610) 954-4000

74% of Patients Would "Definitely Recommend" this Hospital
(Pa. Avg: 70%)

1 violation related to ER care since 2015

Hospital Type

Acute Care Hospitals

Hospital Owner

Voluntary non-profit - Private

ER Volume

Very high (60K+ patients a year)

See this hospital's CMS profile page or inspection reports.

Patient Pathways Through This ER

After a patient arrives at the emergency room, they are typically seen by a doctor or medical practitioner and then either sent home or admitted to the hospital and taken to a room. A small percentage of patients leave without being seen. The chart below shows on average how long each of these pathways take. Lower numbers are better, and all times refer to the average length of time people waited.

Arrives at ER
2% of patients leave without being seen
4hrs 52min Admitted to hospital
8hrs 24min Taken to room
2hrs 26min Sent home

All wait times are average.

Detailed Quality Measures

Here is a more in depth look at each quality measure, compared to state and national averages for hospitals with very high ER volumes. Experts caution that very small differences between hospitals for a given measure are unlikely to correspond to noticeable differences in the real world.

Measure
Average for this Hospital
How this Hospital Compares

(to other hospitals with similar
ER volumes, when available)

Discharged Patients
Time Until Sent Home

Average time patients spent in the emergency room before being sent home (if not admitted).

2hrs 26min
National Avg.
2hrs 50min
Pa. Avg.
2hrs 51min
This Hospital
2hrs 26min
Impatient Patients
Left Without
Being Seen

Percentage of patients who left the emergency room without being seen by a doctor or medical practitioner.

2%
Avg. U.S. Hospital
2%
Avg. Pa. Hospital
2%
This Hospital
2%
Admitted Patients
Time Before Admission

Average time patients spent in the emergency room before being admitted to the hospital.

4hrs 52min

Data submitted were based on a sample of cases/patients.

National Avg.
5hrs 33min
Pa. Avg.
5hrs 22min
This Hospital
4hrs 52min
Admitted Patients
Transfer Time

Among patients admitted, additional time they spent waiting before being taken to their room (sometimes referred to as "boarding time.")

3hrs 32min

Data submitted were based on a sample of cases/patients.

National Avg.
2hrs 24min
Pa. Avg.
2hrs 29min
This Hospital
3hrs 32min
Special Patients
CT Scan

Percentage of patients who arrived with stroke symptoms and did not receive brain scan results within 45 mins.

No Data Available

The number of cases/patients is too few to report.

National Avg.
27%
Pa. Avg.
22%
This Hospital
No Data Available

Violations Related to ER Care

Problems found in emergency rooms at this hospital since 2015, as identified during the investigation of a complaint. About This Data →

Violation
Full Text
EMERGENCY SERVICES POLICIES

Dec 15, 2016

Based on review of facility policy and procedures, review of medical records (MR), and interview with staff (EMP), it was determined the facility failed to follow its established policy for documentation of medication history for three of 15 Emergency Department (ED) medical records reviewed (MR1, MR2, MR3). Findings include: Review on December 13, 2016, of facility policy "Emergency Department General Standards of Care," revised May 2016 revealed " ....

See More ↓

Based on review of facility policy and procedures, review of medical records (MR), and interview with staff (EMP), it was determined the facility failed to follow its established policy for documentation of medication history for three of 15 Emergency Department (ED) medical records reviewed (MR1, MR2, MR3). Findings include: Review on December 13, 2016, of facility policy "Emergency Department General Standards of Care," revised May 2016 revealed " .... E. Documentation ... Certain aspects of patient assessments/screening may be found on the physician documentation and/or nursing documentation. 1. Chief complaint, history of complaint, medical history, medications taken [medication history] ... " Review on December 15, 2016, of MR1 revealed the patient was admitted to the facility's ED on September 29, 2016. Review of physician documentation for MR1 revealed the "patient takes [pain medications] at home." Further review of physician documentation revealed no documentation of the amount of the pain medication or the time the pain medication was taken prior to the ED visit in MR1. Continued review of MR1 revealed there was no nursing documentation of medication history in MR1. Review of MR2 on December 15, 2016, revealed the patient was admitted to the facility's ED on September 29, 2016. Further review of MR2 revealed no physician or nursing documentation of medication history in MR2. Review of MR3 on December 15, 2016, revealed the patient was admitted to the facility's ED on September 29, 2016. Further review of MR3 revealed no physician or nursing documentation of medication history in MR3. Interview on December 15, 2016, with EMP8 confirmed there was no documentation of the amount of pain medication or the time the pain medication was taken by the patient prior to the ED visit in MR1. EMP8 also confirmed there was no nursing documentation of medication history in MR1. Further interview with EMP8 confirmed there was no physician or nursing documentation of medication history in MR2 and MR3.

See Less ↑
Notes

“Average time” refers to the median wait time (the midpoint of all patients' wait times). References to “doctor or medical practitioner” indicate a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. CMS reports the CT scan quality measure as the percentage of patients who received a scan within 45 minutes. We have reversed that measure so that all measures follow a “lower is better” pattern.

Additional design and development by Mike Tigas and Sisi Wei.

Sources

All data comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Detailed quality measures at the hospital, state and national level were last updated September 2019. Most data was collected between October 2017 and October 2018. Data on ER-related violations is from January 2015 to June 2019.

Additional Info

How We've Updated ER Inspector | Download ProPublica's Emergency Room Planning Toolkit | About This Data

Don’t See Your ER?

In some cases we aren’t able to identify the exact location of a hospital, so it doesn’t appear on our mapped search results. However, it may still be in our database – try looking for it in the list of hospitals on each state's page.

In other cases, the hospital is missing from our database because it doesn't have an emergency department.

In other cases, the hospital is missing from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data. There are a couple of reasons why a hospital isn’t included in CMS data: it may not participate in Medicare, or it may share a certification number with another hospital (common across large hospital systems).

If you notice a hospital missing from our database, please first check if you can find it on CMS' website, and that it is listed as having an ER. If so, please email us with the hospital name and address.