SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Optimizing Patient Flow: The Role of Hospitalists in the Clinical Command Center

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This document describes how a clinical command center can improve hospital patient flow and capacity, with a central hospitalist playing a key role. The problem being addressed is hospital overcrowding, especially emergency department boarding, which can delay treatment and worsen patient outcomes.<br /><br />At Mount Sinai Beth Israel, the central hospitalist works with the command center and local care teams to review internal and external transfer requests, determine whether transfers are appropriate, refer patients to the Hospital at Home program, and help implement sepsis alerts across the health system.<br /><br />The team reviewed electronic medical record data and analytics from 2022 to 2024. During this period, the central hospitalist reviewed more than 5,000 transfer cases. Internal transfers, also called level-load transfers, made up most of the volume. These transfers were associated with meaningful operational improvements, including a 16.26-hour reduction in emergency department boarding time, a 1.7-day decrease in average length of stay, 2,448 fewer excess bed days, and capacity for 306 additional admissions.<br /><br />The average central hospitalist decision time from initial contact to disposition was 22 minutes, meeting the goal of under 30 minutes.<br /><br />Overall, the findings suggest that a clinical command center can significantly improve hospital throughput, and that the hospitalist serves as an important clinical safety net by ensuring transfer appropriateness and providing oversight across the health system.

Asset Subtitle

Dahlia Rizk

Meta Tag

Author List Dahlia Rizk, Kristine Favila

Category Innovations

Concept Clinical Command Center

Concept Throughput

Concept Patient Flow

Concept Central Hospitalist

Concept Transfer Review

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Presenting Author Dahlia Rizk

Track Value in Hospital Medicine

Keywords

clinical command center

hospital patient flow

hospital capacity

central hospitalist

emergency department boarding

patient transfers

hospital overcrowding

length of stay

hospital throughput

sepsis alerts

Clinical Command Center

Throughput

Patient Flow

Central Hospitalist

Transfer Review