Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

The Ambulatory ICU

The concept of an Ambulatory Intensive Care Unit (A-ICU) developed because in most companies a small number of employees are responsible for a majority of the health care costs. The 80/20 rule says that 20 percent of the employees drive 80 percent of the cost. These employees generally are people with chronic diseases such as coronary artery disease and diabetes. The A-ICU is a different way of managing these walking sick. A clinician working on this design described the A-ICU as boot camp for chronic disease patients. The most difficult to control patients fit into this category and need a boot camp to get back on track and better control their chronic condition.