Healthcare Remixed – Zubin Damania, MD

Through an engaging mix of song, humor, and creative storytelling, Dr. Damania examines the challenges of delivering compassionate care in our dysfunctional healthcare system while proposing collaborative ways to revitalize it. He explores how we might work individually and collectively to ensure that the future of medicine is a bright one.

Philosophy, Phrasing and Metaphor: Linguistic Leverage in the Service of Function, Comprehension and Evolution – Norm Dinerman, MD, FACEP, LifeFlight of Maine & Northern Light Health Transfer Center

Thoughtful use of phrasing to inform and direct the culture and conduct of transfer center operations is imperative for efficiency and superb customer service at the front-line level.  Likewise, the use of metaphors to create and enhance an understanding of key concepts relating to transfer and patient flow, including its value-based philosophic underpinnings, can be productively employed to grow, and evolve the transfer center, and more broadly, the patient flow and logistics focus of the hospital. This talk will share language and imagery which has proven useful in advancing these objectives

Leading Through Influence – Charley Larsen, RN, MSN, MBA, CNML, NE-BC, Banner Health Transfer Services

Need help gaining company support to implement a new transfer center software solution? Learn from Banner Health’s Charley Larsen, RN, MSN, MBA, CNML, NE-BC, on how he transformed their transfer center by generating company-wide excitement and key executive buy-in to implement Central Logic software and initiate substantial operational improvements in Banner Health’s large and complex healthcare system. In this session you’ll hear how to start a grassroots effort to secure company-wide backing to deploy new transfer center software, hear implementation best practices and how to utilize data to drive real results and enhance accountability. See real-life results of what can happen when you transform your transfer center to a command center!

Evacuation and Surge Planning: Preparedness Partnerships with Healthcare Coalitions – Robert Hawkins, Near Southwest Prepardness Alliance (NSPA)

The Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance (NSPA) is one of six Healthcare Coalitions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Consisting of sixteen member hospitals and two free standing emergency departments, as well as a multitude of long-term care facilities, the region faces the same pervasive threat all healthcare regions face: evacuation and surge. Executive Director Robert Hawkins discusses the steps taken by the coalition to increase preparedness through regional exercises, an evacuation and surge assessment project for acute care and critical access hospitals, and the facilitation of the annual Coalition Surge Test.

Transfer Service ROI: Allowing Data to Drive Change – Erin Tams, BSBA & Shannon Spotts, RN, BSN, Banner Health Transfer Services

The million-dollar question…does data drive process or does process drive data? At Banner Health, it works both ways. Hear Erin Tams, Analyst, and Shannon Spotts, RN Manager, key members of Banner Health’s Transfer Center Services, discuss how data capture by transfer center staff is critical for informing process change on a near-daily basis. Learn how data can drive healthy competition amongst facilities within the same healthcare system and provide insight into the value that your transfer center brings the entire organization. This session will be of incredible value to attendees at every stage of a transfer center implementation.

Central Logic Access Center – Michael Harrington, Central Logic

Given the unprecedented number of health system mergers and acquisitions of hospitals, health
systems and physician practices, the transfer center is evolving to support the top priorities of the health
system. Specifically, the increased focus on revenue generation and providing the highest level of care
quality within the lowest cost setting. Toward this end, there is greater emphasis on increasing patient
acquisition and retention and preventing patient leakage. This panel of healthcare industry thought
leaders will discuss such industry trends and the strategies to address the same.

Remote Worker Model: Contributing to the Success of a Pediatric Transfer Center  – Davina Hyatt, St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Working remotely has been a growing trend in this country, and with the advancement of technology has extended into the healthcare realm. In this session, Davina Hyatt, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, will outline how the remote worker model was implemented in a pediatric transfer center setting and how that model has proved to be cost effective, supported growth, and provided satisfaction to our employee’s work-life balance.

LOS Optimization – Carlos Valle, Baptist Health South Florida

Hear Baptist Health South Florida’s Carlos Valle discuss the different ways his Transfer Center has leveraged the information captured in Central Logic to expand the services his health system provides, reduce patient LOS, and improve departmental efficiencies. He’ll discuss the benchmarks used to guide process improvement efforts, and share some of reporting tools used to monitor the services provided. Finally he’ll discuss the ‘automatic correct’ mechanism that sharing information affords and its effects on the entire transfer process.

How to Improve Access to Care for Rural and Remote Patients – Kiah Fleming, MHSM, GRAD DIP M, GRAD CERT CCN, BN, RN, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

The purpose of this session is to identify principles and strategies to engage and improve access to care for all members of the community. To achieve this aim, I will discuss a research project which addressed the challenges for a tertiary referral center providing state wide care, for acute and chronic cardiology and cardiothoracic patients requiring specialist services. The lessons distilled will be shown to be applicable across healthcare settings and services. The session offers an opportunity to contribute to the discussion about the challenges experienced by healthcare managers, as well as processes and strategies used to overcome access issues.

Equity and access to care is a significant issue for health care systems worldwide. Approximately half the worldwide population live in rural and remote areas, whilst the majority of healthcare services are in metropolitan areas. This is a challenge to providing healthcare in Australia due to: geographically a large country; major cities located on the coast; and, one third of the population live in rural and remote locations. Improving access to health care services for patients in rural and remote areas is a major issue and addressing this is pivotal to effectively manage healthcare organisations.

This session will investigate issues that impact on patient’s ability to access specialist healthcare, whether they live 300m, 3km, 30km or 300km from services. Topics examined will include: the organisational barriers to accessing care; patient and carer physical, emotional and psychological needs; outcomes related to distances and delays; and, the views of health professionals. The discussion will seek to identify principles and strategies to engage and improve access to care for all members of the community.

Step by Step: The Path to Opening a One Step Command Transfer Center – Trish Smith, BA, BSN, RN, Appalachian Regional Healthcare

Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) is a 12 hospital, not-for-profit, health system providing services to residents across Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia. The organization has a firm commitment to its mission of improving the health and promoting the well-being of all people in its service area and to the desire to become the most trusted home for healthcare. After aggregating retrospective transfer data, spanning over a period of two years, from hospitals across their system, ARH found that their emergency departments were transferring a large volume of patients to non-ARH facilities annually, and they found that they had no visibility of the transfers from inpatient units or physicians’ offices. It was at that point in time that ARH found itself at a crossroads and identified the need to operate with a true system mindedness approach to patient care with a centralized process to manage and expand transfer operations across their organization.

This presentation will share ARH’s history, vision, and events leading up to the decision to centralize transfer processes across their organization. The presenter will share the pathway that ARH followed to successfully implement their Command Transfer Center streamlining the transfer process and optimizing data collection. The audience will hear how Command Center leadership continued to optimize processes and build relationships with referring providers and transport services to enhance the transfer experience. This presentation will also touch on ARH’s decision to implement a tele-ICU across the organization with one of the goals being to improve the Command Transfer Center’s ability to load level high acuity patients across our facilities with critical care units.

Alleviating Emergency Department Crowding and Boarding – Sam Shen, MD, MBA and Patrice Callagy, RN, MPA, MSN, CEN, Stanford Health Care

Crowding in the emergency department can wreak havoc with hospital operations, whether it’s ED boarding or over-capacity issues in the OR. Sam Shen, MD, MBA will share his observations and experiences as Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs, Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. You’ll learn how Dr. Shen and his team implemented a multifaceted set of solutions to Stanford’s crowding and boarding challenges — including the pivotal role played by the hospital’s transfer center. Dr. Shen also will discuss lean methodology, daily huddles, joint RN/physician leadership and other tried-and-true implementation strategies, as well as Stanford’s future initiatives to maintain optimal patient flow and minimize ED crowding.

Patient Care is a Marathon – Matt Jones

Being in Patient Flow, like a marathon, can be an endurance event. Get ready to be energized, encouraged, and inspired by the amazing story of Matt Jones overcoming insurmountable odds. He went from being a three-time cancer conqueror to completing seven marathons on seven continents after relearning how to walk. From Matt’s presentation, you will learn how to better navigate the marathon of Patient Flow.

People Make Change: IHI’s psychology of Change Framework – Alex Anderson, Institute of Healthcare Improvement

The rate at which improvement spreads relies at least in part on the people who are implementing the change in practice. The focus on people and the psychology of individuals, teams, and organizations is key to fully applying Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. The QI community’s advancement of the technical side of improvement is well established. And, an opportunity exists to elevate our focus on psychology in service of achieving results more quickly and more sustainably. IHI’s Psychology of Change Framework helps leaders focus on the people advancing improvement efforts: the way that we think and feel, what motivates us, and how we behave when we encounter change. This session provides an overview of the 5 practices in IHI’s framework including discussion of some practical tools and methods to advance the psychology of change.

Is an Ambulance the Right Vehicle for Psych Patient Transfers? – Skip Kirkwood, MS, JD, NRP, EFO, CEMSO, FACPE

The transfer of psychiatric patients from point of initial care to an appropriate psychiatric facility is a challenge for many organizations. Often, patients awaiting transfer to mental health facilities are “boarded” in hospital emergency departments for extended periods, which can be costly, staff-intensive, and unsafe. This session will address some of the legal, clinical, safety and security, and financial issues associated with psychiatric transfers, and provide information for patient flow leaders to consider in establishing systems for their organizations, including a discussion of “Why just calling an ambulance is not the best idea.” Some “best practices” from around the country will be described.

Remote Worker Model: Contributing to the Success of a Pediatric Transfer Center  – Davina Hyatt, St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Working remotely has been a growing trend in this country, and with the advancement of technology has extended into the healthcare realm. In this session, Davina Hyatt, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, will outline how the remote worker model was implemented in a pediatric transfer center setting and how that model has proved to be cost effective, supported growth, and provided satisfaction to our employee’s work-life balance.

LOS Optimization – Carlos Valle, Baptist Health South Florida

Hear Baptist Health South Florida’s Carlos Valle discuss the different ways his Transfer Center has leveraged the information captured in Central Logic to expand the services his health system provides, reduce patient LOS, and improve departmental efficiencies. He’ll discuss the benchmarks used to guide process improvement efforts, and share some of reporting tools used to monitor the services provided. Finally he’ll discuss the ‘automatic correct’ mechanism that sharing information affords and its effects on the entire transfer process.

How to Improve Access to Care for Rural and Remote Patients – Kiah Fleming, MHSM, GRAD DIP M, GRAD CERT CCN, BN, RN, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

The purpose of this session is to identify principles and strategies to engage and improve access to care for all members of the community. To achieve this aim, I will discuss a research project which addressed the challenges for a tertiary referral center providing state wide care, for acute and chronic cardiology and cardiothoracic patients requiring specialist services. The lessons distilled will be shown to be applicable across healthcare settings and services. The session offers an opportunity to contribute to the discussion about the challenges experienced by healthcare managers, as well as processes and strategies used to overcome access issues.

Equity and access to care is a significant issue for health care systems worldwide. Approximately half the worldwide population live in rural and remote areas, whilst the majority of healthcare services are in metropolitan areas. This is a challenge to providing healthcare in Australia due to: geographically a large country; major cities located on the coast; and, one third of the population live in rural and remote locations. Improving access to health care services for patients in rural and remote areas is a major issue and addressing this is pivotal to effectively manage healthcare organisations.

This session will investigate issues that impact on patient’s ability to access specialist healthcare, whether they live 300m, 3km, 30km or 300km from services. Topics examined will include: the organisational barriers to accessing care; patient and carer physical, emotional and psychological needs; outcomes related to distances and delays; and, the views of health professionals. The discussion will seek to identify principles and strategies to engage and improve access to care for all members of the community.

Transfer Service ROI: Allowing Data to Drive Change – Erin Tams, BSBA & Shannon Spotts, RN, BSN, Banner Health Transfer Services

The million-dollar question…does data drive process or does process drive data? At Banner Health, it works both ways. Hear Erin Tams, Analyst, and Shannon Spotts, RN Manager, key members of Banner Health’s Transfer Center Services, discuss how data capture by transfer center staff is critical for informing process change on a near-daily basis. Learn how data can drive healthy competition amongst facilities within the same healthcare system and provide insight into the value that your transfer center brings the entire organization. This session will be of incredible value to attendees at every stage of a transfer center implementation.

Evacuation and Surge Planning: Preparedness Partnerships with Healthcare Coalitions – Robert Hawkins, Near Southwest Prepardness Alliance (NSPA)

The Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance (NSPA) is one of six Healthcare Coalitions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Consisting of sixteen member hospitals and two free standing emergency departments, as well as a multitude of long-term care facilities, the region faces the same pervasive threat all healthcare regions face: evacuation and surge. Executive Director Robert Hawkins discusses the steps taken by the coalition to increase preparedness through regional exercises, an evacuation and surge assessment project for acute care and critical access hospitals, and the facilitation of the annual Coalition Surge Test.

Step by Step: The Path to Opening a One Step Command Transfer Center – Trish Smith, BA, BSN, RN, Appalachian Regional Healthcare

Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) is a 12 hospital, not-for-profit, health system providing services to residents across Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia. The organization has a firm commitment to its mission of improving the health and promoting the well-being of all people in its service area and to the desire to become the most trusted home for healthcare. After aggregating retrospective transfer data, spanning over a period of two years, from hospitals across their system, ARH found that their emergency departments were transferring a large volume of patients to non-ARH facilities annually, and they found that they had no visibility of the transfers from inpatient units or physicians’ offices. It was at that point in time that ARH found itself at a crossroads and identified the need to operate with a true system mindedness approach to patient care with a centralized process to manage and expand transfer operations across their organization.

This presentation will share ARH’s history, vision, and events leading up to the decision to centralize transfer processes across their organization. The presenter will share the pathway that ARH followed to successfully implement their Command Transfer Center streamlining the transfer process and optimizing data collection. The audience will hear how Command Center leadership continued to optimize processes and build relationships with referring providers and transport services to enhance the transfer experience. This presentation will also touch on ARH’s decision to implement a tele-ICU across the organization with one of the goals being to improve the Command Transfer Center’s ability to load level high acuity patients across our facilities with critical care units.

Evaluation and Design of Access Centers: A Multidisciplinary Approach – Kevin Meek, RN-BSN, BA, MHI, SitePoint Healthcare Partners

The ability to get a patient to the right level of care, at the right time, with the right resources, is critical. As full-continuum-of-care models are increasingly being deployed by health systems and other provider organizations, the move from a patient transfer center to a multi-disciplinary and integrated access center is gaining greater consideration. The demands of continuous operation place unique design requirements to successfully accomplish the goals set forth by the system.  Taking an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to human factors, ergonomics, and design elements are crucial to the success of any existing or newly designed center.  Considerations in lighting, air handling, security, noise and vibration, as well as proximity and privacy, all need to be considered for a space that is both functional and practical.

This session will address these topics and more, including:

• How big should the monitors be?
• Who should have access to the space?
• Where’s the best place to put the center?
• Who’s a part of the design team?

Medical Oversight of the Transfer Center, Patient Flow and Logistics – Norm Dinerman, MD, FACEP, LifeFlight of Maine & Northern Light Health Transfer Center

For physicians, an opportunity to leverage their creativity and evolve their career exists in the provision of medical oversight of a transfer center and involvement in patient flow. Given the impact of the transfer center and the importance of patient flow to the multiple interests of the hospital, a physician who assumes a leadership position with this portfolio can create a platform by which to advance the clinical care of patients, and in the process, evolve a skill set which complements the qualities which brought them to medicine in the first place. For the physician who seeks to reach “beyond the bedside”, a foray into this field will prove as challenging as direct patient care, with success writ large across an entire region.

Michelle McCleerey, Earl Arbuckle & Michael Harrington, Central Logic