Decision on SIG-2026-0427

[MSOM Conference]

08-May-2026

Re: SIG-2026-0427, "Absorbing Variability: An Empirical Study of An Expanded Dedicated Observation Unit"

SIG Day Decision: Reject

Dear Author (this is to ensure anonymity):

We received many excellent submissions for the Healthcare Operations Management SIG-Day Conference. Unfortunately, we were unable to accept all of them to be included in the program, and we are sorry to say that your paper was not accepted to the SIG-Day conference.

If you also submitted an extended abstract of your paper to the main MSOM Conference, a decision on that submission will come separately.


Sincerely,

Healthcare Operations;SIG Co-Chairs

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Referee: 1
Please summarize the paper briefly. - Rev: Please see my attached report. Thanks for the enjoyable read!

Referee: 2
Please summarize the paper briefly. - Rev: This paper studies the effect of an expanded dedicated observation unit (DOU) at a large academic hospital on patient outcomes. Using patient-level data from after the implementation, the paper adopts an IV approach to compare outcomes for patients treated in the DOU with those treated in medical/surgical units. The authors find that treatment in the DOU is associated with shorter length of stay (LOS), a lower probability of patient status changing from observation to inpatient (i.e., flip status), and no significant change in 72-hour revisits. The paper has the potential to address an important problem for resource allocation and variability management.-


Referee: 1

Comments to the Author (old)
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Referee: 2

Comments to the Author (old)
(There are no comments.)-