We demonstrate the utility of predicting the whole distribution of an outcome rather than a marginal change. We overcome inconsistent data modelling techniques in a real world problem. A model based on additive quantile regression and boosting was used to predict the whole distribution of length of hospital stay (LOS) following colorectal cancer surgery. The model also assessed the association of hospital and patient characteristics over the whole distribution of LOS.<img src=“http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ProfessorRobJHyndman/~4/1yNsmuwaJFY" height=“1” width=“1” …