Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care installed a centralized patient placement center one year ago to more effectively manage patient flow. While the implementation of a large-scale IT solution to support this endeavor involved coordination between a variety of departments and people, one of the most critical factors of Baptist Memorial's success was strong leadership, according to a feature in the Patient Flow Quarterly.
"Clearly, there's no question that strong senior leadership is paramount to a successful implementation of this magnitude, especially when you're talking about changing the culture of an organization," said. Derick B. Ziegler, vice president of regional operations at Baptist Memorial, according to the report. "Unfortunately, it doesn't happen overnight and you can't just wave a magic wand."
Here are five things to know about Baptist Memorial's patient placement center, according to Patient Flow Quarterly.
1. Baptist Memorial found a partner in TeleTracking when seeking a solution to enhance patient flow. "TeleTracking drives the enterprise solution for patient movement, which allows us to accept and retain patients within the system, predict and manage not only work but staff too, reduce patient wait times, etc.," said Mr. Ziegler, according to the report.
2. The health system's president and CEO, Jason Little, headed the strategic planning and goal setting that preceded the TeleTracking implementation process. He and his colleagues, including Mr. Ziegler, determined a primary goal was to grow inpatient and outpatient volume across the 14-hospital system, and identifying ways to retain patients.
3. After selecting TeleTracking as a partner, "The senior leadership team then made sure the system, individual hospital and department goals aligned," said Mr. Ziegler. "There was active engagement from those at the top of the organization communicating to employees at all levels."
4. Strong physician engagement and support were essential to creating this alignment, according to the report. The leadership and advocacy of the medical director, who visited all 14 of the health system's hospitals to convey the importance of the new system, was critical to its success.
5. Nine months after implementing the TeleTracking centralized patient placement center solution, Baptist Memorial Health Care experienced numerous positive results, including:
- Emergency department boarding: 25 percent to 50 percent reduction in monthly hold hours at larger EDs
- ED discharge time: 5 percent decrease in total minutes
- Outpatient registrations: 15 percent increase
- Volume: 17 percent increase
- Patient placement center averages: 1,500 placements (direct admits and transfers) per month
- ED length of stay, discharge and admit turnover: 10 percent decrease
- Transfers to competing hospitals: Declined from 80 percent to 40 percent