The ED Capacity and Throughput Optimization Imperative
Emergency Department overcrowding is at crisis levels...a frightening reality that is clearly unsustainable!
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Have you quantified the impact that your current LWBS is having on your bottom line? It could exceed seven figures...not to mention the impact LWBS incidents have on your patient experience scores, patient safety, and staff engagement. Like many hospitals and health systems today, your LWBS rate is most likely a result of inefficient ED throughput processes. Some of these processes are specific to ED operations alone, while others require a multidisciplinary approach with the ancillary departments that support your ED. Identifying the multiple opportunities to revise, hardwire, and sustain evidence-based, patient-focused care processes that could affect changes can be a challenge due to limited resources. |
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Director's Corner: Rapid Cycle Testing
by Michael Silverman, MD & Dan Hannan, MBA, BSN, RN Our ED patient flow is not working, and we cannot keep up with our patient arrival and disposition patterns. |
As ER overcrowding worsens, a program helping to ease the crisis may lose funding. "Patients are leaving early or dying waiting..."
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Opportunities Exist Throughout the ED Patient Flow Cycle
Transforming your current patient flow processes can convert your ED from an inpatient holding area
to a high-functioning care environment.
to a high-functioning care environment.
As the healthcare market continues to transition at an astonishing pace,
embracing patient throughput best practices is imperative in meeting the quality and safety needs of your patients.
embracing patient throughput best practices is imperative in meeting the quality and safety needs of your patients.
Capacity Constraints Can Impact Your Bottom Line
and Your Reputation Within the Community
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Future-focused hospital administrators are envisioning opportunities to improve their their outdated processes and take the essential steps to overcome the many challenges of the future of care in the ED - the communities safety net and front door of the hospital. The quality of care delivered and the patient/family perception of their ED care has a substantial downstream effect. Exceeding ED capacity in an already overcrowded environment results in risk and patient dissatisfaction. It can impact the hospital's overall clinical, operational, patient experience, AND financial success. Efficient ED processes coupled with quality outcomes should be a burning platform for healthcare institutions who care about their patients, reputation and bottom line. |
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What's Causing the ED Boarding Crisis that's Creating Barriers to Patient Care?
Operational efficiency and patient throughput improvements can lead to improved patient safety and satisfaction. It can also improve staff engagement and improve resource utilization and cost-effectiveness. Identifying and prioritizing strategic initiatives can accelerate your hospitals' ability to facilitate improvements in key performance drivers.
Patient flow bottlenecks threaten operational efficiencies and create insufficient capacity as a result of :
- Inefficient and antiquated workflows
- Redundancies, process interruptions, and work-arounds
- Inadequate and unreliable analytics
- Boarding of admitted patients due to extended inpatient length of stay
- Limited access to primary care for chronic conditions
- Insufficient community resources for effective discharge care
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Operational inefficiencies compromise the patient-centric culture that hospital leaders embrace and cultivate with their dedicated caregivers, resulting in undesirable consequences:
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We Can Assist You With Optimizing Your ED Operations - This is Our Process
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PHASE I - THE ASSESSMENT Every hospital ED has its own unique challenges. That's why we do a comprehensive assessment of your organization's current processes including a review of the organizational structure and culture. We also look at your resource utilization, service, quality, and patient satisfaction. Then we do a workflow analysis that includes direct observations and interviews with key stakeholders. Dialogue with organizational and departmental leaders, providers, and direct care staff is a crucial step to gain varying perspectives of the barriers that impede optimal performance. We then present a summation of our results that will identify and recommend improvement opportunities. |
PHASE II - DEVELOPING A PLAN
We then prepare an improvement plan to address identified opportunities in collaboration with ED stakeholders. The result is a detailed, strategic plan with a customized roadmap that addresses your organization's unique challenges. 
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PHASE III - IMPLEMENTATION
A governance structure is developed with hospital administration to incorporate a lean processing approach utilizing change management principles to facilitate staff-led work teams. The teams will design rapid cycle tests of change, implement process revision, analyze data, and embed sustainable change. We provide hands-on and virtual support during assessment, planning and implementation phases. This helps facilitate continuity and cultural transformation while also monitoring progress, optimizing feedback loops and adapting the strategic plan as necessary.
A governance structure is developed with hospital administration to incorporate a lean processing approach utilizing change management principles to facilitate staff-led work teams. The teams will design rapid cycle tests of change, implement process revision, analyze data, and embed sustainable change. We provide hands-on and virtual support during assessment, planning and implementation phases. This helps facilitate continuity and cultural transformation while also monitoring progress, optimizing feedback loops and adapting the strategic plan as necessary.
We Provide ED Operational Improvements That Drive
Your Organization's Key Metrics
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We have a legacy of delivering strong, data-based ED performance improvement results through a phased approach including:
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Take the first step toward a more efficient, patient-centric Emergency Department. Contact us today to speak to Dan Hannan, our ED Department specialist. |
Knowledge and Expertise in the ED is the Difference
Dan Hannan, MBA, BSN, RN
Partner CEO Advisory Network |
Dan is a results-driven, high energy healthcare leader specializing in hospital-based and free-stranding Emergency Services. Through his insightful perspective, he has facilitated and sustained streamlined workflow processes to optimize patient throughput resulting in revenue, patient experience, and staff retention improvements. A former Chief Nursing Officer as well as a Vice-President, Professional Services and Nursing Institute Director, Emergency Services within the Cleveland Clinic Health System, Dan most recently served as a Senior Consultant with Philips Healthcare Transformation Services. Dan earned his Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science, Health Services Management from David N. Myers/Chancellor University in Cleveland, OH and his Bachelor of Science, Nursing from Ohio University.
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