A common statistic associated with length of stay is the average length of stay (ALOS), a mean calculated by dividing the sum of inpatient days by the number of patients admissions with the same diagnosis-related group classification.
Length of stay is typically highly skewed and so statistical approaches taking that into account are recommended.
Discharge planning processes can be effective in reducing a patient's length of stay in hospital.
In the context of healthcare, overemphasis on LOS as a target metric can compromise the quality of patient care.
[5] The term "average length of stay" (ALOS) is also applicable to other industries, e.g. entertainment, event marketing, trade show and leisure.