{"id":5571,"date":"2020-04-28T02:28:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T02:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/news\/the-positive-impact-of-establishing-an-internal-transfer-center\/"},"modified":"2020-04-28T02:28:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T02:28:00","slug":"the-positive-impact-of-establishing-an-internal-transfer-center","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/en-gb\/news\/the-positive-impact-of-establishing-an-internal-transfer-center\/","title":{"rendered":"The Positive Impact of Establishing an Internal Transfer Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article was first published in Nurse Leader |&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/journal\/nurse-leader\" target=\"_blank\">Read Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sharon Simmons, MSN, RN,&nbsp;CPN, and Shannon Baum, MSM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health systems are facing greater pressures than ever before, with factors ranging&nbsp;from mergers and acquisitions and changing reimbursement models to capacity&nbsp;challenges and staffing shortages. A transfer center, where with 1 simple call from&nbsp;a referring physician, a decision to accept a critically ill patient can be made, placing&nbsp;them at the most appropriate level of care, the first time. Baptist Health in Jacksonville,&nbsp;Florida, went from an outsourced to an in-house center in 3 months-in&nbsp;the first 28 days alone, patient transfers increased from 900 to 1,500, growing to an&nbsp;average of 1,583 transfers per month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">OVERVIEW<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health\u00a0systems\u00a0are facing\u00a0higher pressures\u00a0than\u00a0ever\u00a0before,\u00a0with\u00a0factors\u00a0ranging\u00a0from mergers\u00a0and acquisitionsand changing\u00a0reimbursement models\u00a0to\u00a0capacity\u00a0challenges and\u00a0staffing shortages.\u00a0A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/the-command-center\/\">health\u00a0system\u00a0command\u00a0cente<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/a6f61c8390.nxcli.io\/%7BlocalLink:umb:\/\/document\/ecd7c90d263040d49fd5ddcc3626c2af%7D\">r<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0an\u00a0effective\u00a0way to\u00a0create a\u00a0centralized approach\u00a0to quickly\u00a0and\u00a0easily accept\u00a0patients\u00a0into\u00a0the\u00a0system from\u00a0all points\u00a0of\u00a0entry\u00a0and\u00a0place\u00a0them\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0most appropriate\u00a0level\u00a0of\u00a0care,\u00a0the\u00a0first\u00a0time.\u00a0There\u00a0is shared\u00a0situational\u00a0awareness across\u00a0the\u00a0system\u00a0when\u00a0operational alignment\u00a0is\u00a0achieved\u00a0caregivers\u00a0can\u00a0deliver\u00a0world-class\u00a0care\u00a0and patients\u00a0can\u00a0receive\u00a0the support they\u00a0need during\u00a0their health\u00a0care\u00a0journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One&nbsp;critical component&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;health&nbsp;system&nbsp;command&nbsp;center&nbsp;is&nbsp;a transfer&nbsp;center,&nbsp;where with&nbsp;1 simple&nbsp;call&nbsp;from&nbsp;a&nbsp;referring physician,&nbsp;a&nbsp;decision to&nbsp;accept&nbsp;a&nbsp;critically&nbsp;ill&nbsp;patient&nbsp;can be&nbsp;made. The&nbsp;key&nbsp;decision that&nbsp;systems&nbsp;need to make,&nbsp;however,&nbsp;is&nbsp;whether&nbsp;to manage&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center in-house&nbsp;or outsource&nbsp;it to&nbsp;a&nbsp;third party&nbsp;entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For&nbsp;years,&nbsp;it made&nbsp;financial&nbsp;and&nbsp;operational sense&nbsp;for Baptist&nbsp;Health in&nbsp;Jacksonville,&nbsp;Florida,&nbsp;to&nbsp;outsource&nbsp;its transfer&nbsp;center.&nbsp;How&nbsp;ever,&nbsp;in&nbsp;2017, while&nbsp;renegotiating&nbsp;the contract&nbsp;with&nbsp;their third-party&nbsp;entity,&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;learn&nbsp;ed that&nbsp;the&nbsp;company&nbsp;was significantly&nbsp;raising&nbsp;its&nbsp;cost per case.&nbsp;With patient volume steadily increasing,&nbsp;a&nbsp;decision needed to be&nbsp;made either&nbsp;to continue&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;outsourced transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;or&nbsp;build one&nbsp;internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ABOUT BAPTIST HEALTH JACKSONVILLE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded&nbsp;in 1955, Baptist&nbsp;Health&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;area&#8217;s only&nbsp;locally governed&nbsp;health&nbsp;system. Its&nbsp;mission is &#8220;to&nbsp;continue&nbsp;the&nbsp;healing&nbsp;ministry&nbsp;of Christ&nbsp;by providing&nbsp;accessible,&nbsp;quality&nbsp;health&nbsp;care services at&nbsp;a&nbsp;reasonable&nbsp;cost&nbsp;in&nbsp;an&nbsp;atmosphere that fosters respect&nbsp;and compassion&nbsp;.&#8221;&nbsp;Comprising&nbsp;5 hospitals&nbsp;and&nbsp;3&nbsp;freestanding&nbsp;emergency departments&nbsp;(EDs),&nbsp;the system&nbsp;has&nbsp;1,168 beds&nbsp;and 11,085 team members.&nbsp;In&nbsp;2018,&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;Health handled&nbsp;72,39&nbsp;1 inpatient&nbsp;admissions,&nbsp;326,298&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;room&nbsp;visits, and&nbsp;46,896&nbsp;total&nbsp;surgeries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baptist Health is recognized&nbsp;as a&nbsp;national leader in&nbsp;the&nbsp;use&nbsp;of&nbsp;clinical information technology&nbsp;to&nbsp;improve&nbsp;the&nbsp;quality&nbsp;and&nbsp;safety&nbsp;of&nbsp;care.&nbsp;All&nbsp;5&nbsp;hospitals and their&nbsp;home&nbsp;health&nbsp;agency earn&nbsp;ed Magnet\u00ae&nbsp;designation, in&nbsp;addition&nbsp;to being Jacksonville&#8217;s &#8220;Most Preferred&nbsp;Healthcare Provider&#8221;&nbsp;since&nbsp;1990,&nbsp;based&nbsp;on&nbsp;the national&nbsp;Research&nbsp;Corporation&#8217;s&nbsp;Health&nbsp;care&nbsp;Market Guide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jacksonville&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;growing&nbsp;area&nbsp;where&nbsp;close&nbsp;to&nbsp;30%&nbsp;of the&nbsp;population is&nbsp;over the age&nbsp;of&nbsp;55,&nbsp;which&nbsp;puts&nbsp;additional&nbsp;stress&nbsp;on Baptist&nbsp;Health&#8217;s ability&nbsp;to meet&nbsp;the&nbsp;needs&nbsp;of&nbsp;the community.&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;is&nbsp;also&nbsp;located in&nbsp;a&nbsp;highly competitive environment with&nbsp;several neighboring&nbsp;health&nbsp;systems.&nbsp;With Baptist&#8217;s&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;outsourced,&nbsp;it&nbsp;was&nbsp;difficult to determine&nbsp;how patients&nbsp;were&nbsp;brought into&nbsp;and moved through&nbsp;the&nbsp;system&nbsp;across&nbsp;the system&#8217;s&nbsp;5&nbsp;facilities. When problems&nbsp;occurred in&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer process,&nbsp;there&nbsp;were&nbsp;barriers&nbsp;and&nbsp;time&nbsp;constraints&nbsp;for&nbsp;solving&nbsp;them. Data&nbsp;was&nbsp;also&nbsp;difficult&nbsp;to access,&nbsp;leading&nbsp;to uncertainty&nbsp;around&nbsp;the&nbsp;reasons&nbsp;patients&nbsp;were&nbsp;being&nbsp;declined. Finally,&nbsp;the&nbsp;lack&nbsp;of a centralized&nbsp;approach&nbsp;resulted&nbsp;in unhappy&nbsp;physicians&nbsp;who had difficulty placing patients,&nbsp;along with&nbsp;long&nbsp;hold&nbsp;and&nbsp;wait&nbsp;times&nbsp;for those patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">KEY POINTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Health systems face operational pressures\u2014mergers,&nbsp;changing reimbursement models,&nbsp;capacity challenges and staffing shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 A transfer center is an effective way to&nbsp;implement a centralized approach to accept&nbsp;patients into a health system from all points&nbsp;of entry and placing them at the&nbsp;appropriate level of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Baptist Health established an in-house&nbsp;transfer center in 3 months, increasing&nbsp;transfers to 1,583\/month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CENTRALIZATION AND HURRICANE&nbsp;PREPARATION<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The journey&nbsp;to centralization&nbsp;began&nbsp;in&nbsp;August&nbsp;2017&nbsp;when the&nbsp;decision was&nbsp;made&nbsp;to&nbsp;create a&nbsp;Patient&nbsp;Care&nbsp;Logistics&nbsp;Center&nbsp;(PCL&nbsp;C)&nbsp;to manage centralized&nbsp;staffing&nbsp;and bed&nbsp;placement.&nbsp;The PCLC&nbsp;co-located&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and&nbsp;illuminated&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;first time aU&nbsp;beds&nbsp;within the enterprise: 5&nbsp;hospitals and&nbsp;3&nbsp;free-standing emergency centers,&nbsp;covering approximately&nbsp;52 square&nbsp;miles.&nbsp;Additionally,&nbsp;the centralized&nbsp;view&nbsp;allowed&nbsp;teams to work&nbsp;together&nbsp;more efficiently and provide&nbsp;appropriate, safe&nbsp;patient&nbsp;care;&nbsp;bed placement; and equitable&nbsp;staffing assignments&nbsp;with the&nbsp;dispersion&nbsp;of&nbsp;float team members. This&nbsp;first&nbsp;step&nbsp;was&nbsp;a significant&nbsp;change&nbsp;because previously,&nbsp;those&nbsp;responsibilities&nbsp;had been handled&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;individual&nbsp;campus&nbsp;level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One&nbsp;month into the project,&nbsp;a hurricane&nbsp;led to&nbsp;2&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;being added&nbsp;to&nbsp;the mandatory&nbsp;evacuation&nbsp;zone&nbsp;due&nbsp;to the&nbsp;building&#8217;s&nbsp;proximity&nbsp;to waterways and&nbsp;chance&nbsp;of&nbsp;flooding.&nbsp;The&nbsp;team&nbsp;had&nbsp;to quickly&nbsp;devise a&nbsp;process&nbsp;to handle&nbsp;reassigning&nbsp;a&nbsp;large&nbsp;number of&nbsp;patients,&nbsp;as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;making sure&nbsp;that&nbsp;they could identify&nbsp;the patients&nbsp;and return them&nbsp;to their original&nbsp;center&nbsp;of&nbsp;care once&nbsp;the&nbsp;hospitals and&nbsp;roads&nbsp;re-opened. The&nbsp;nurse&nbsp;leaders established&nbsp;a team comprising&nbsp;each&nbsp;facility&#8217;s&nbsp;house supervisors,&nbsp;bed&nbsp;control team members, and&nbsp;transport liaisons.&nbsp;All team members&nbsp;were&nbsp;chosen&nbsp;internally: House supervisors&nbsp;turned&nbsp;over&nbsp;some&nbsp;roles&nbsp;and tasks,&nbsp;such&nbsp;as staffing&nbsp;and&nbsp;bed placement. As&nbsp;these&nbsp;functions&nbsp;became centralized, staff started&nbsp;floating to&nbsp;the&nbsp;like units&nbsp;that&nbsp;were understaffed-&nbsp;previously,&nbsp;some&nbsp;staff&nbsp;members&nbsp;were working&nbsp;overtime while other&nbsp;units&nbsp;were&nbsp;sending staff home&nbsp;because&nbsp;no&nbsp;one&nbsp;could&nbsp;see&nbsp;the&nbsp;whole picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years,&nbsp;outsourcing&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&#8217;s functionality&nbsp;met Baptist&#8217;s&nbsp;needs, and just&nbsp;as importantly,&nbsp;it&nbsp;was financially&nbsp;viable.&nbsp;The&nbsp;timing&nbsp;was&nbsp;perfect for&nbsp;making a change,&nbsp;however,&nbsp;because&nbsp;the successful&nbsp;evacuation&nbsp;and&nbsp;repatriation of patients&nbsp;during&nbsp;the&nbsp;hurricane&nbsp;led&nbsp;to&nbsp;discussions about&nbsp;the direction&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;should take.&nbsp;Senior&nbsp;leadership knew&nbsp;that&nbsp;Jacksonville&nbsp;was&nbsp;growing, and&nbsp;the system&nbsp;was&nbsp;growing&nbsp;too-&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;MD&nbsp;Anderson Cancer Center&nbsp;had been&nbsp;added,&nbsp;along&nbsp;with&nbsp;additional&nbsp;service&nbsp;lines.&nbsp;There&nbsp;was also a customer&nbsp;service component&nbsp;to this&nbsp;decision; the&nbsp;team&nbsp;knew&nbsp;they could provide&nbsp;exceptional&nbsp;service&nbsp;because&nbsp;they&nbsp;were&nbsp;sensitive&nbsp;to the specific&nbsp;needs&nbsp;and intricacies of&nbsp;the&nbsp;local market.&nbsp;For&nbsp;example,&nbsp;there&nbsp;were&nbsp;multiple&nbsp;health&nbsp;systems&nbsp;in proximity&nbsp;to&nbsp;one&nbsp;another, and the&nbsp;outsourced transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;often&nbsp;would&nbsp;life-flight&nbsp;a&nbsp;patient that&nbsp;was&nbsp;2&nbsp;miles&nbsp;away,&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;using ground ambulance&nbsp;transport&nbsp;because&nbsp;they&nbsp;didn&#8217;t understand&nbsp;that&nbsp;the&nbsp;hospital&nbsp;was&nbsp;right&nbsp;down the&nbsp;street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To continue&nbsp;moving&nbsp;the transformation to&nbsp;an&nbsp;inhouse transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;forward,&nbsp;continued&nbsp;senior&nbsp;leadership&nbsp;engagement&nbsp;and involvement from all&nbsp;facilities&nbsp;was&nbsp;necessary.&nbsp;Baptist&#8217;s chief&nbsp;nursing&nbsp;officer&nbsp;(CNO&nbsp;)&nbsp;led&nbsp;the&nbsp;way&nbsp;by&nbsp;making&nbsp;arrangements for&nbsp;the&nbsp;planning\/implementation team to present&nbsp;to&nbsp;every&nbsp;medical&nbsp;board&nbsp;at all&nbsp;5&nbsp;hospital&nbsp;s-&nbsp;as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;to&nbsp;service&nbsp;line&nbsp;chiefs-&nbsp;to help&nbsp;ensure staff&nbsp;at&nbsp;all&nbsp;levels were just&nbsp;as&nbsp;engaged&nbsp;as&nbsp;the executives.&nbsp;Both the&nbsp;CNO&nbsp;and the&nbsp;medical&nbsp;director&nbsp;helped&nbsp;lead these conversations,&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;medical&nbsp;director leading&nbsp;the physician&nbsp;conversations&nbsp;with the&nbsp;CNO beside&nbsp;him,&nbsp;and the&nbsp;CNO&nbsp;leading&nbsp;the&nbsp;nursing conversations&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;medical director&nbsp;beside&nbsp;her. The&nbsp;meetings&nbsp;were&nbsp;designed&nbsp;to&nbsp;gather&nbsp;all&nbsp;staff members&#8217;&nbsp;input into the&nbsp;overall process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As conversations&nbsp;continued&nbsp;into&nbsp;Fall 2017,&nbsp;the&nbsp;outsourced&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;vendor&nbsp;advised that a contract&nbsp;extension&nbsp;was&nbsp;not&nbsp;an&nbsp;option. Consequently,&nbsp;if the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center was going to&nbsp;be brought&nbsp;in-house,&nbsp;it&nbsp;would need to be&nbsp;fully&nbsp;operational&nbsp;by&nbsp;January&nbsp;2018. The&nbsp;team quickly determined&nbsp;that&nbsp;the&nbsp;outsourced transfer center&nbsp;should be brought&nbsp;in-house&nbsp;and folded into the&nbsp;PCLC&nbsp;to&nbsp;create a&nbsp;health&nbsp;system&nbsp;command&nbsp;center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With all the&nbsp;facilities&nbsp;aligned&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;staff&nbsp;engaged,&nbsp;the&nbsp;planning team&nbsp;met&nbsp;the&nbsp;deadline&nbsp;and the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;opened on January&nbsp;2,&nbsp;2018.&nbsp;In&nbsp;the first&nbsp;28&nbsp;days,&nbsp;patient transfers&nbsp;increased from&nbsp;900 to&nbsp;1500.&nbsp;Currently,&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;Health has an&nbsp;average&nbsp;of&nbsp;1,583&nbsp;transfers&nbsp;per month, including&nbsp;internal&nbsp;transfers&nbsp;from&nbsp;free-standing&nbsp;emergency centers&nbsp;and&nbsp;referrals&nbsp;from&nbsp;community hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">RESPONSIVE SERVICE AND ACTIONABLE&nbsp;METRICS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;new&nbsp;transfer center is responsible&nbsp;for&nbsp;4&nbsp;phone&nbsp;lines:&nbsp;a&nbsp;children&#8217;s&nbsp;line,&nbsp;a&nbsp;brain line,&nbsp;a ST-segment&nbsp;elevation myocardial infarction&nbsp;(STEMI)&nbsp;line,&nbsp;and&nbsp;a&nbsp;general&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;line.&nbsp;These&nbsp;lines&nbsp;were&nbsp;created to&nbsp;make&nbsp;it&nbsp;easier&nbsp;for&nbsp;the customer&nbsp;or the&nbsp;referrer to reach the&nbsp;right&nbsp;person&nbsp;for&nbsp;the fastest&nbsp;placement. For&nbsp;example, a pediatrician&nbsp;can&nbsp;call the children&#8217;s&nbsp;line and is&nbsp;guaranteed&nbsp;to speak&nbsp;to&nbsp;a nurse&nbsp;who is an&nbsp;expert in pediatrics.&nbsp;This also&nbsp;applies to the&nbsp;brain line and the stroke&nbsp;line, as&nbsp;these calls are associated&nbsp;with high-intensity, time-sensitive&nbsp;situations and&nbsp;require a nurse&nbsp;to&nbsp;receive&nbsp;the&nbsp;call first,&nbsp;before&nbsp;it&nbsp;rolls&nbsp;to the coordinators.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reports&nbsp;on&nbsp;how many&nbsp;calls come&nbsp;into&nbsp;each line&nbsp;were generated. In&nbsp;addition,&nbsp;the&nbsp;team began to closely&nbsp;monitor all&nbsp;outbound patient&nbsp;transfers.&nbsp;There&nbsp;is&nbsp;also&nbsp;a&nbsp;strong&nbsp;focus on&nbsp;monitoring those&nbsp;transfers&nbsp;and&nbsp;agreements,&nbsp;and all planned&nbsp;and unplanned direct admissions&nbsp;from&nbsp;a&nbsp;physician&#8217;s&nbsp;office&nbsp;were entered into&nbsp;TeleTracking&#8211;&nbsp;the&nbsp;vendor&nbsp;that powers the technology&nbsp;in the command&nbsp;center.&nbsp;In October&nbsp;2018&nbsp;alone,&nbsp;121&nbsp;patients&nbsp;were&nbsp;entered into the&nbsp;system as&nbsp;direct&nbsp;admits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Patient Care Logistics Center Project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;work was completed in phases&nbsp;because&nbsp;the&nbsp;new department&nbsp;needed to be&nbsp;resource&nbsp;neutral.&nbsp;All&nbsp;facilities&nbsp;worked together&nbsp;to donate&nbsp;partial resource&nbsp;hour&nbsp;s. The&nbsp;PCLC Staffing&nbsp;Matrix needed&nbsp;11.2&nbsp;ITEs, and&nbsp;with&nbsp;donations,&nbsp;the&nbsp;result was a&nbsp;deficit&nbsp;of&nbsp;1.69&nbsp;ITEs,&nbsp;meeting the&nbsp;team&#8217;s&nbsp;goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Phase I<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Centralized&nbsp;staffing&nbsp;office&nbsp;to provide&nbsp;enterprise-wide&nbsp;visibility<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 The&nbsp;pilot of&nbsp;staff&nbsp;floating&nbsp;intrafacility&nbsp;as appropriate.&nbsp;All call-outs, cancelations,&nbsp;and&nbsp;movement&nbsp;of staff<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">routed&nbsp;through the&nbsp;PCLC<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;Centralized&nbsp;bed placement&nbsp;creating capacity&nbsp;with patient flow to meet demand<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;Continued coaching&nbsp;of&nbsp;acuity tool&nbsp;for equitable&nbsp;and bal&nbsp;anced workload with&nbsp;patient&nbsp;assignm&nbsp;ents<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Phase II<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;Incorporated&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center from an outsourced&nbsp;provider<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Monitored&nbsp;and improved&nbsp;operations&nbsp;with&nbsp;continuous improvement&nbsp;methods<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;Developed monthly dashboards&nbsp;for reporting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Three core&nbsp;best practices&nbsp;were&nbsp;identified:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.&nbsp;<strong>ACCESS<\/strong>: provide&nbsp;an opportunity&nbsp;for patients&nbsp;in the community to have access&nbsp;to Baptist&nbsp;Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2.&nbsp;<strong>EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE PATIENT PLACEMENT<\/strong>:&nbsp;ensure that patients&nbsp;are&nbsp;placed in&nbsp;the appropriate&nbsp;unit in&nbsp;a&nbsp;timely manner&nbsp;that best meets their medical needs&nbsp;without prolonged&nbsp;wait times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3.&nbsp;<strong>DATA<\/strong>: provide&nbsp;data&nbsp;to drive change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;goal&nbsp;was&nbsp;to optimize internal&nbsp;labor&nbsp;resources&nbsp;across&nbsp;the entire&nbsp;organization&nbsp;to decrease premium&nbsp;labor&nbsp;expenses, such&nbsp;as&nbsp;overtime&nbsp;and use&nbsp;of&nbsp;external contingent&nbsp;staffing&nbsp;resources.&nbsp;Through the&nbsp;PCLC&nbsp;and the&nbsp;transfer center technology, Baptist&nbsp;Health has better&nbsp;control&nbsp;of&nbsp;labor&nbsp;costs, has increased patient&nbsp;transfers,&nbsp;and improved&nbsp;physician&nbsp;satisfaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For&nbsp;example, a&nbsp;daily communication&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;the capacity&nbsp;at&nbsp;each&nbsp;facility was&nbsp;developed&nbsp;and is emailed&nbsp;at&nbsp;6:00&nbsp;a.m.&nbsp;each morning&nbsp;to&nbsp;all&nbsp;hospital presidents, house&nbsp;supervisors,&nbsp;and EVS&nbsp;and&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;department&nbsp;leadership.&nbsp;A projection&nbsp;of&nbsp;discharges and&nbsp;admission&nbsp;s,&nbsp;based&nbsp;on&nbsp;the average&nbsp;of the&nbsp;last&nbsp;4&nbsp;weeks,&nbsp;by the&nbsp;day&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;week,&nbsp;are&nbsp;also included&nbsp;in the&nbsp;daily&nbsp;report. Because&nbsp;of&nbsp;these changes, improved&nbsp;communication,&nbsp;nursing&#8217;s&nbsp;adoption&nbsp;of the&nbsp;system,&nbsp;and&nbsp;effective&nbsp;utilization&nbsp;of&nbsp;data,&nbsp;the entire&nbsp;health&nbsp;system&nbsp;has undergone&nbsp;an incredible&nbsp;cultural&nbsp;shift by prioritizing&nbsp;patient&nbsp;throughput. In&nbsp;addition,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Health System&nbsp;Command Center&nbsp;has&nbsp;generated&nbsp;tremendous&nbsp;results over&nbsp;a&nbsp;short&nbsp;time,&nbsp;making it possible&nbsp;for Baptist Health to provide&nbsp;more&nbsp;services,&nbsp;to more&nbsp;members&nbsp;of the community&nbsp;(Table 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-1024x449.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-1024x449.png 1024w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-300x132.png 300w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-768x337.png 768w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-1536x674.png 1536w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-63956-am-2048x898.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Physicians were&nbsp;very positive&nbsp;about the responsiveness&nbsp;and&nbsp;flexibility of the centralized,&nbsp;in-house&nbsp;approach.&nbsp;With the&nbsp;old outsourced&nbsp;system,&nbsp;if there&nbsp;was a problem&nbsp;with the&nbsp;technology&nbsp;and&nbsp;a change&nbsp;was&nbsp;needed,&nbsp;it took&nbsp;2 to 3 weeks&nbsp;at best&nbsp;to resolve&nbsp;it. With&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer center in-house, changes&nbsp;are&nbsp;made&nbsp;in&nbsp;2&nbsp;hours and&nbsp;sent out&nbsp;to the&nbsp;teams. Another&nbsp;benefit to the&nbsp;in-house&nbsp;center&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;fact&nbsp;that Baptist&nbsp;staff&nbsp;has&nbsp;access to physicians&#8217; phone&nbsp;numbers&nbsp;and&nbsp;can connect&nbsp;to them directly-&nbsp;something&nbsp;the&nbsp;outsourced&nbsp;center did not&nbsp;have,&nbsp;resulting in delays&nbsp;as&nbsp;they&nbsp;waited&nbsp;for answering&nbsp;services&nbsp;to&nbsp;call back. Baptist&nbsp;also&nbsp;has&nbsp;CORTEXT,&nbsp;which is a&nbsp;Health Insurance&nbsp;Portability&nbsp;and Accountability&nbsp;Act- complaint&nbsp;text&nbsp;application&nbsp;that makes&nbsp;it possible&nbsp;to text information&nbsp;to&nbsp;physicians.&nbsp;Direct&nbsp;physician&nbsp;access via phone&nbsp;and&nbsp;text has been&nbsp;considered&nbsp;an unequivocal&nbsp;success&nbsp;by physicians, nurses,&nbsp;and&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, although&nbsp;the ability&nbsp;to bring patients&nbsp;in&nbsp;and&nbsp;appropriately&nbsp;place&nbsp;them&nbsp;was&nbsp;certainly beneficial,&nbsp;it&nbsp;was just&nbsp;as&nbsp;advantageous&nbsp;to have&nbsp;access&nbsp;to data about&nbsp;the&nbsp;patients that&nbsp;were&nbsp;being declined. Before&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center&nbsp;coming&nbsp;in-house,&nbsp;the&nbsp;team&nbsp;had&nbsp;no idea&nbsp;how much&nbsp;volume&nbsp;was&nbsp;being&nbsp;lost, a&nbsp;knowledge&nbsp;gap&nbsp;with&nbsp;significant impact&nbsp;because&nbsp;volume&nbsp;was&nbsp;being&nbsp;affected&nbsp;by unhappy physicians,&nbsp;long&nbsp;wait times,&nbsp;long&nbsp;holding&nbsp;times,&nbsp;bed management&nbsp;issues,&nbsp;and issues&nbsp;with&nbsp;physicians&nbsp;not connecting right away. Now,&nbsp;the team&nbsp;can dig into these cases,&nbsp;work&nbsp;through the challenges,&nbsp;and escalate&nbsp;them to management if&nbsp;appropriate.&nbsp;In&nbsp;addition, an e-mail&nbsp;is&nbsp;sent&nbsp;each day to the president&nbsp;of&nbsp;each&nbsp;Baptist hospital&nbsp;regarding any&nbsp;patient that was&nbsp;declined&nbsp;so&nbsp;they can understand how many&nbsp;and&nbsp;why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To have&nbsp;a complete&nbsp;understanding&nbsp;of&nbsp;the situation,&nbsp;each&nbsp;case&nbsp;is&nbsp;scrutinized.&nbsp;The attention to&nbsp;data also includes&nbsp;monthly dashboards&nbsp;to monitor the transfer&nbsp;center volume&nbsp;totals,&nbsp;as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;accepted&nbsp;total, the&nbsp;percentage&nbsp;of accepted&nbsp;cases&nbsp;versus&nbsp;the&nbsp;total,&nbsp;the&nbsp;denial&nbsp;cancellation&nbsp;percentage,&nbsp;and the percentage&nbsp;of accepted volumes year over&nbsp;year&nbsp;(Table 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Metrics&nbsp;specific&nbsp;to STEMis&nbsp;are&nbsp;also being monitored&nbsp;closely.&nbsp;A daily report&nbsp;is generated with&nbsp;information&nbsp;that includes&nbsp;how many have&nbsp;been&nbsp;received,&nbsp;and&nbsp;if the&nbsp;5-minute&nbsp;metric&nbsp;for&nbsp;notifying physicians,&nbsp;arranging&nbsp;transport,&nbsp;and&nbsp;contacting the&nbsp;cath&nbsp;lab&nbsp;is&nbsp;being met. Every&nbsp;STEMI&nbsp;is&nbsp;reviewed weekly- something&nbsp;that couldn&#8217;t be done&nbsp;in the past.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reports&nbsp;are&nbsp;also&nbsp;generated&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;center&nbsp;metrics&nbsp;based&nbsp;on&nbsp;bed placement,&nbsp;including the percentage&nbsp;who&nbsp;left&nbsp;without being&nbsp;seen,&nbsp;the&nbsp;average&nbsp;patient length&nbsp;of stay,&nbsp;the&nbsp;hours in the emergency center,&nbsp;the&nbsp;treat and admit&nbsp;length of stay, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;center&nbsp;boarding total hours&nbsp;are generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"910\" src=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-64143-am-1024x910.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-64143-am-1024x910.png 1024w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-64143-am-300x267.png 300w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-64143-am-768x683.png 768w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-64143-am.png 1528w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">LOCATION AND STRUCTURE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is considered&nbsp;a&nbsp;best practice&nbsp;to&nbsp;not&nbsp;situate&nbsp;a&nbsp;health&nbsp;system&nbsp;command&nbsp;center&nbsp;in the middle&nbsp;of&nbsp;the inpatient&nbsp;areas of&nbsp;the&nbsp;hospital.&nbsp;The&nbsp;PCLC is located&nbsp;in&nbsp;an&nbsp;on-campus&nbsp;pavilion&nbsp;that&nbsp;houses doctors&#8217;&nbsp;offices, a&nbsp;restaurant,&nbsp;and&nbsp;a pharmacy.&nbsp;This&nbsp;location&nbsp;works well&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;team because&nbsp;as a coastal&nbsp;city&nbsp;that is&nbsp;exposed&nbsp;to hurricanes,&nbsp;being&nbsp;on campus provides&nbsp;access&nbsp;to&nbsp;essential&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;extremely&nbsp;tight time frame&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;contract&nbsp;ending&nbsp;with the outsourced vendor,&nbsp;it made&nbsp;sense&nbsp;to&nbsp;staff&nbsp;the&nbsp;new center&nbsp;with&nbsp;existing&nbsp;Baptist employees&nbsp;who&nbsp;were already ingrained&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;culture and processes. The&nbsp;result&nbsp;was&nbsp;a&nbsp;total&nbsp;of 24&nbsp;full-time&nbsp;employees&nbsp;coming&nbsp;together to work collaboratively&nbsp;on staffing,&nbsp;bed management,&nbsp;and&nbsp;the other operational&nbsp;aspects of&nbsp;running the transfer&nbsp;center.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Again, in&nbsp;keeping with best practices,&nbsp;the&nbsp;center functions&nbsp;with&nbsp;1&nbsp;staffing nurse,&nbsp;2 RNs,&nbsp;and&nbsp;1&nbsp;coordinator&nbsp;24\/7.&nbsp;During peak&nbsp;call times from&nbsp;11&nbsp;a.m.&nbsp;to&nbsp;8&nbsp;p.m., 3 coordinators&nbsp;are on&nbsp;staff.&nbsp;Another staff&nbsp;member handles&nbsp;the&nbsp;system&#8217;s&nbsp;other 4&nbsp;facilities: Baptist&nbsp;South,&nbsp;Baptist Beaches,&nbsp;and Baptist&nbsp;NASSAU&nbsp;locations,&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;Wolfson&nbsp;Children&#8217;s&nbsp;Hospital. However,&nbsp;during&nbsp;the&nbsp;overnight&nbsp;hours,&nbsp;1&nbsp;person handles&nbsp;all&nbsp;5&nbsp;hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CHANGING OPINIONS AND MARKETING THE CENTER<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ability of&nbsp;the&nbsp;24-member&nbsp;team&nbsp;to&nbsp;build&nbsp;relationships&nbsp;with&nbsp;customers&nbsp;has&nbsp;been another&nbsp;major&nbsp;benefit&nbsp;of the&nbsp;PCLC. Whether it&#8217;s&nbsp;a physician&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;freestanding emergency&nbsp;center&nbsp;that&#8217;s trying to&nbsp;get a&nbsp;patient placed,&nbsp;or a physician&nbsp;who is trying to&nbsp;get a&nbsp;patient&nbsp;a heart&nbsp;cath,&nbsp;relationships&nbsp;were&nbsp;built,&nbsp;and now&nbsp;there&#8217;s&nbsp;a sense of trust&nbsp;that&nbsp;was&nbsp;not there&nbsp;before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those&nbsp;relationships were strengthened by&nbsp;the&nbsp;metrics,&nbsp;which&nbsp;have skyrocketed&nbsp;in all&nbsp;respects since&nbsp;day&nbsp;1.&nbsp;As&nbsp;an example,&nbsp;1&nbsp;of&nbsp;the neurosurgeons&nbsp;built&nbsp;a program&nbsp;that&nbsp;he&#8217;s&nbsp;very&nbsp;proud&nbsp;of,&nbsp;but he&nbsp;was nervous&nbsp;about&nbsp;the changes&nbsp;that&nbsp;were&nbsp;being implemented.&nbsp;The&nbsp;PCLC&nbsp;team collaborated with&nbsp;him&nbsp;over&nbsp;meetings prior&nbsp;to&nbsp;opening so&nbsp;they could understand&nbsp;the urgency&nbsp;of time&nbsp;when dealing with&nbsp;neuro patients. After&nbsp;week&nbsp;1,&nbsp;month 1,&nbsp;and month 3,&nbsp;the&nbsp;team lived up to&nbsp;all&nbsp;physician&nbsp;expectation&nbsp;s and&nbsp;are&nbsp;meeting all&nbsp;of their time-related&nbsp;metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Communication with the&nbsp;freestanding&nbsp;emergency centers&nbsp;was also improved&nbsp;with&nbsp;the creation&nbsp;of an&nbsp;e-form.&nbsp;Because freestanding&nbsp;EDs&nbsp;feed&nbsp;into hospital transfers,&nbsp;an online&nbsp;form was implemented that makes&nbsp;it possible&nbsp;to fill in the&nbsp;main pieces&nbsp;of&nbsp;information in&nbsp;TeleTracking&nbsp;so&nbsp;that&nbsp;work can start on&nbsp;the&nbsp;transfer for&nbsp;a nonemergency&nbsp;patient&nbsp;without a phone&nbsp;call.&nbsp;Then&nbsp;all&nbsp;that is required&nbsp;is a&nbsp;call back&nbsp;to say, &#8220;Okay,&nbsp;we&#8217;re&nbsp;ready&nbsp;to connect&nbsp;physicians.&#8221;&nbsp;This&nbsp;not&nbsp;only eliminates repeating&nbsp;the process, and the&nbsp;need&nbsp;for multiple&nbsp;phone&nbsp;calls,&nbsp;physicians&nbsp;stay&nbsp;informed&nbsp;every&nbsp;step of&nbsp;the&nbsp;way because&nbsp;they&nbsp;can&nbsp;see&nbsp;that&nbsp;a&nbsp;case&nbsp;has&nbsp;been&nbsp;opened online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As&nbsp;the center&nbsp;evolved,&nbsp;the&nbsp;team quickly&nbsp;realized&nbsp;that the&nbsp;customers are&nbsp;not just the patients&nbsp;outside the&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;system,&nbsp;they&nbsp;are&nbsp;also the&nbsp;patients&nbsp;inside&nbsp;the&nbsp;system,&nbsp;the&nbsp;physicians in the emergency&nbsp;rooms, and&nbsp;the nurses&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;emergency&nbsp;rooms.&nbsp;All&nbsp;of&nbsp;these different&nbsp;sets of customers are targeted&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;something&nbsp;that&nbsp;wasn&#8217;t happening&nbsp;before&nbsp;and&nbsp;has further&nbsp;enhanced&nbsp;the&nbsp;success of&nbsp;the PCLC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;PCLC&nbsp;also&nbsp;now provides&nbsp;the&nbsp;ability&nbsp;to divert patients&nbsp;to one of&nbsp;the&nbsp;community&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;when&nbsp;capacity has&nbsp;been reached&nbsp;at&nbsp;the central downtown&nbsp;location.&nbsp;It&nbsp;is possible&nbsp;to see&nbsp;what&nbsp;is available&nbsp;across&nbsp;the&nbsp;entire&nbsp;network&nbsp;and&nbsp;let the person&nbsp;calling&nbsp;know that&nbsp;while&nbsp;there&nbsp;may&nbsp;not&nbsp;be space&nbsp;downtown,&nbsp;there&nbsp;are&nbsp;beds&nbsp;at&nbsp;one&nbsp;of&nbsp;the other&nbsp;sites&nbsp;that&nbsp;can accommodate&nbsp;that&nbsp;patient&nbsp;immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;administrators who&nbsp;played&nbsp;an integral&nbsp;role&nbsp;in implementing the&nbsp;in-house&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center from&nbsp;the&nbsp;beginning&nbsp;said&nbsp;it best,&nbsp;&#8220;We&nbsp;have&nbsp;the&nbsp;eyes of&nbsp;the&nbsp;kingdom now, so&nbsp;we can see&nbsp;everything.&#8221;&nbsp;It&nbsp;is&nbsp;possible&nbsp;to&nbsp;know the availability across&nbsp;the system,&nbsp;and&nbsp;say,&nbsp;&#8220;Okay,&nbsp;this morning&nbsp;we&#8217;re&nbsp;not&nbsp;going&nbsp;to send any&nbsp;patients&nbsp;downtown unless&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;a service&nbsp;line-related issue.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If&nbsp;it is a&nbsp;patient with&nbsp;a&nbsp;brain issue or a child,&nbsp;they&nbsp;have&nbsp;to be sent&nbsp;downtown,&nbsp;but&nbsp;other patients can be sent&nbsp;to&nbsp;other campuses.&nbsp;That&nbsp;was another&nbsp;option the outside&nbsp;company&nbsp;did not&nbsp;provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"531\" src=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am-1024x531.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2825\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am-1024x531.png 1024w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am-768x398.png 768w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am-1536x797.png 1536w, https:\/\/eadn-wc04-11971913.nxedge.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-29-at-104718-am.png 1832w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">RESULTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baptist Health underwent&nbsp;a significant cultural&nbsp;shift,&nbsp;starting&nbsp;with the&nbsp;implementation&nbsp;of a&nbsp;patient&nbsp;care&nbsp;logistic center&nbsp;(PCLC) through&nbsp;the&nbsp;development&nbsp;of a&nbsp;health&nbsp;system command&nbsp;Center, which resulted&nbsp;in&nbsp;improvements&nbsp;in patient throughput. The&nbsp;center has&nbsp;led&nbsp;to&nbsp;tremendous&nbsp;results over&nbsp;a short period of time,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Baptist Health has&nbsp;been&nbsp;able&nbsp;to provide&nbsp;more services to&nbsp;more&nbsp;members&nbsp;of&nbsp;its growing&nbsp;Jacksonville community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 The&nbsp;best practice &#8220;one call&#8221;&nbsp;approach for direct&nbsp;admits&nbsp;has enhanced&nbsp;Baptist&#8217;s reputation&nbsp;and increased&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;volume, and&nbsp;consequently revenue.&nbsp;Less&nbsp;than&nbsp;5%&nbsp;of patients&nbsp;being&nbsp;transferred to Baptist&nbsp;are&nbsp;denied&nbsp;or&nbsp;canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;In&nbsp;the&nbsp;first&nbsp;28 days alone,&nbsp;patient transfers increased&nbsp;from&nbsp;900 to&nbsp;1,500. Currently,&nbsp;the average&nbsp;is&nbsp;1,523&nbsp;transfers&nbsp;per month. This&nbsp;also includes&nbsp;internal&nbsp;transfers from free-standing&nbsp;emergency centers and&nbsp;referrals&nbsp;from community&nbsp;hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;Valuable staffing&nbsp;resources are&nbsp;being more&nbsp;effectively allocated,&nbsp;with people from&nbsp;like&nbsp;units&nbsp;being&nbsp;placed where&nbsp;they are&nbsp;needed most-&nbsp;a significant culture&nbsp;change&nbsp;that&nbsp;has&nbsp;been positively received.&nbsp;Overtime costs&nbsp;were cut by more&nbsp;than&nbsp;40% as a&nbsp;result of the&nbsp;new centralized&nbsp;staffing&nbsp;model&nbsp;(Table 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;This&nbsp;level&nbsp;of attention&nbsp;to the&nbsp;patient mix made&nbsp;it possible&nbsp;for Baptist&nbsp;to&nbsp;save&nbsp;between&nbsp;$800,000&nbsp;and&nbsp;$1.2&nbsp;million in&nbsp;2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Emergency&nbsp;center boarding&nbsp;hours&nbsp;declined&nbsp;20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022&nbsp;A&nbsp;patient&#8217;s&nbsp;leaving&nbsp;without being seen decreased&nbsp;by&nbsp;6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER ORGANIZATIONS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As stated previously,&nbsp;health&nbsp;care systems are facing&nbsp;greater pressures&nbsp;than&nbsp;ever&nbsp;before&#8211;&nbsp;the process&nbsp;of&nbsp;reviewing&nbsp;workflows, assessing staffing,&nbsp;and&nbsp;implementing&nbsp;technology are a&nbsp;key&nbsp;part of&nbsp;launching an&nbsp;effective, centralized&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;center that&nbsp;increases&nbsp;both&nbsp;efficiencies and revenue.&nbsp;In&nbsp;addition,&nbsp;as care&nbsp;models&nbsp;and reimbursement&nbsp;incentives&nbsp;transition from volume-based&nbsp;care&nbsp;to value-based&nbsp;care,&nbsp;having&nbsp;these&nbsp;types of&nbsp;systems&nbsp;in place&nbsp;becomes even more important. And&nbsp;as&nbsp;independent hospitals continue&nbsp;coming&nbsp;together to&nbsp;form&nbsp;hub-&nbsp;and&nbsp;-spoke systems&nbsp;with&nbsp;a single&nbsp;regional&nbsp;specialty care center&nbsp;serving as&nbsp;the&nbsp;hub&nbsp;and community&nbsp;hospitals as the spokes, and&nbsp;as&nbsp;hub-and-spoke systems&nbsp;came together&nbsp;to form integrated delivery networks,&nbsp;the&nbsp;need for&nbsp;centralization gains further&nbsp;importance.&nbsp;In&nbsp;2018,&nbsp;there&nbsp;were approximately&nbsp;550&nbsp;integrated delivery&nbsp;networks,&nbsp;which combined&nbsp;include&nbsp;over 5,500&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;with nearly 900,000&nbsp;in-patient&nbsp;beds.&nbsp;In&nbsp;2016,&nbsp;across&nbsp;the United States, 9&nbsp;1.6%&nbsp;of all hospitalized&nbsp;patients&nbsp;were&nbsp;discharged&nbsp;from&nbsp;an integrated&nbsp;delivery&nbsp;network.&nbsp;Furthermore,&nbsp;using&nbsp;the information&nbsp;generated&nbsp;by&nbsp;the transfer&nbsp;center, organizations can realize&nbsp;visibility across&nbsp;their&nbsp;health&nbsp;system,&nbsp;reduce&nbsp;the costs&nbsp;that result&nbsp;from waiting&nbsp;for&nbsp;care, and align resources&nbsp;to&nbsp;meet the&nbsp;demand for patient&nbsp;care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CONCLUSION<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Establishing a transfer&nbsp;center, and&nbsp;specifically establishing&nbsp;one&nbsp;in-house, ensures that the staff&nbsp;is familiar&nbsp;with the&nbsp;local landscape,&nbsp;that patients are transported&nbsp;in the&nbsp;most&nbsp;effective manner;&nbsp;that&nbsp;strong&nbsp;relationships&nbsp;can&nbsp;be built with the physician&nbsp;community; and&nbsp;that it&#8217;s&nbsp;possible to&nbsp;see availability across&nbsp;the&nbsp;system and&nbsp;divert&nbsp;resources accordingly. The end result is a better experience&nbsp;for&nbsp;patients&nbsp;and caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&nbsp;were many&nbsp;collaborative&nbsp;partners&nbsp;who made&nbsp;this project&nbsp;successful.&nbsp;Special&nbsp;acknowledgment&nbsp;to our&nbsp;Chief Nursing&nbsp;Officer&nbsp;for&nbsp;Baptist Health, Dr. Diane&nbsp;Raines&nbsp;(retired&nbsp;)&nbsp;for&nbsp;all the&nbsp;guidance,&nbsp;and support throughout&nbsp;the&nbsp;creation of&nbsp;the Patient&nbsp;Care&nbsp;Logistic&nbsp;Center. Also, acknowledgment&nbsp;to&nbsp;Dr. Matthew C. Rill,&nbsp;CEO of Emergency&nbsp;Resources&nbsp;Group, and&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Michael Mayo,&nbsp;Hospital President of the Jacksonville&nbsp;campus,&nbsp;for the&nbsp;ongoing&nbsp;medical and&nbsp;administrative&nbsp;direction&nbsp;and guidance&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Transfer Center.&nbsp;Sharon&nbsp;Simmons, MSN, RN, CPN, has worked at Baptist&nbsp;Health\/Wolfson Children&#8217;s&nbsp;Hospital&nbsp;in&nbsp;Jacksonville,&nbsp;Florida for over 35 years.&nbsp;She&nbsp;is&nbsp;currently&nbsp;the manager of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Patient Care&nbsp;Logistics&nbsp;Center&nbsp;(PCLC).&nbsp;She was&nbsp;chosen from&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;Health&nbsp;as the&nbsp;Nurse&nbsp;of the Year for&nbsp;Professional Collaboration&nbsp;in&nbsp;2018. She can be reached&nbsp;at&nbsp;Sharon.simmons2@bmcjax.com.&nbsp;Shannon Baum,&nbsp;MSM,&nbsp;has&nbsp;worked at&nbsp;Baptist&nbsp;Health\/Wolfson&nbsp;Children&#8217;s&nbsp;Hospital&nbsp;for the past&nbsp;14&nbsp;years. She is the director for FLEX&nbsp;(staffing&nbsp;team) and the PCLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"newstype":[255],"keyword":[],"class_list":["post-5571","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","newstype-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Positive Impact of Establishing an Internal Transfer Center - Teletracking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health\u00a0systems\u00a0are facing\u00a0higher pressures\u00a0than\u00a0ever\u00a0before,\u00a0ranging\u00a0from changing\u00a0reimbursement models\u00a0to\u00a0capacity\u00a0challenges and\u00a0staffing shortages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Positive Impact of Establishing an Internal Transfer Center - 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