Thoughts from the Houston Leadership Workshop

I continue to be amazed and interested in the many unique workflow designs and processes of Transfer Centers and Patient Placement/Bed Control Departments. They’re intriguing in how they function and communicate internally and with each other–and in how they function and communicate with external customers (i.e., referring facilities, internal nursing units, etc). Whether these two access departments for a hospital are part of the same management structure, may potentially be managed as one, or remain as independent departments, the creative and sometimes challenging workflow designs developed in the many hospitals continue to fascinate me.

The Houston Leadership Workshop experience was no different. There was representation from the community hospital to the academic, and from the larger to the smaller to the multi-hospital systems. Regardless of the type or size facility, the comments, challenges and opportunities discussed are generally shared by most Transfer Centers and Patient Placement/Bed Control Departments. Common interests are how to develop, implement or improve processes to expedite the admissions/access and transfers to the hospital, and how to optimize patient flow to maximize reimbursement potential while also maintaining patient safety and service excellence.

In my “past life” (not too long ago), I lived these same goals, objectives and challenges over the past 10 years in Bed Control and Transfer Center, of my almost 20 year experience in a medical center. These are not easy tasks to balance–and it is a balancing act! Over the coming months, I will be part of the Central Logic team that will help our current and future clients with the Transfer/Access and Patient Flow process challenges–or what I like to call “opportunities.”