Several health systems are tackling higher volumes with command centers, and at a seven-hospital system based in Philadelphia, a capacity management initiative is on track to become a systemwide bed management center.
Since July 2025, Penn Medicine’s capacity management center has expanded to include the health system’s transfer center, PennStar flight program, PennComm flight dispatch center and centralized bed management for all three of its hospitals in Philadelphia.
The center facilitates both internal patient transfers and those from around the world to its facilities, according to an Oct. 10 news system release. Of the dozens of calls the center receives each day, emergent cases have a call-to-bed deadline of eight hours, while urgent cases and elective cases are typically processed in 24 hours.
In the most recent fiscal year, the center managed more than 9,200 patient transfers. About half, or 53%, of those involved the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the largest organ transplant centers in the U.S. Approximately 40% of transfers are between Penn Medicine hospitals.
The Penn Medicine system spans hundreds of miles, the release said.
“To have the capacity for the sickest of the sick, we need to make sure our supply is matching our demand,” Robin Wood, PhD, vice president for system capacity and patient flow at Penn Medicine, said in the release.
“That means thinking a little bit differently than how we used to think, which was, ‘If they arrive in your building, they’re yours,'” Dr. Wood said.
An effort to reduce length of stay launched in July 2023, and within a year, Penn Medicine’s excess patient days decreased about 60%, allowing the system to accommodate an additional 1,700 patients, according to the release.
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