{"id":5447,"date":"2018-09-07T20:10:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T20:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/blog\/delivering-timely-quality-patient-care-across-health-systems\/"},"modified":"2018-09-07T20:10:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T20:10:00","slug":"delivering-timely-quality-patient-care-across-health-systems","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/en-gb\/blog\/delivering-timely-quality-patient-care-across-health-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Delivering Timely, Quality Patient Care Across Health Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking the First Step on the Capacity Management Journey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Riding in the backseat of my parent\u2019s car as a young child, I got goosebumps every time we passed a hospital. They weren\u2019t just buildings to me\u2014they were the heart of the community\u2015and all I could think about was the exciting work that was going on inside to help sick people feel better. And I also thought that if I was ever lucky enough to work in a place like that, I could make a difference too. Well, for the past 33 years I have been lucky enough to do just that\u2014caring for patients, holding their hands, drying their tears and supporting their families. And for the past six years, I\u2019ve been helping patients in a different way, working with health systems on increasing operational efficiency and capacity management so that they can open their doors\u2014and deliver care\u2014to even more patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like I said, I have 33 years of experience in healthcare and I\u2019ve seen the landscape change dramatically over that time. My head spins when I think about what\u2019s necessary to meet the demand of patient populations, along with the new difficulties involved in caring for sick patients. Not to mention the fact that operational complexities and administrative burdens are forcing stand-alone hospitals to consolidate with health systems to stay competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Did you know in 2014 there were 487 multi-site health systems in the U.S.\u2014and the projection for 2024 has it increasing to 926? Moving from a stand-alone hospital to a health system brings a physical and emotional burden to both patients and employees\u2014especially around finding ways to ensure that access to quality and timely care is available to those who need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So how do you do it? How do you manage capacity and deliver excellent care? The first step is building an overall culture of accountability\u2014where everyone from the chief medical officer to the unit nurse is engaged, ready to do what it takes to put an operational plan into action, and ready to take ownership for overall organizational results. Then once everyone is committed to making these changes, the next step to ensuring care is being delivered and capacity maximized\u2014whether it\u2019s a standalone hospital or an expansive health system\u2014is being able to assess what the demand for care will be, develop a plan to meet it, and then execute on the specific tactics to achieve that plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve put those foundations in place, here are five additional recommendations to continue to drive operational efficiency and increase capacity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n