Capacity Command Center launches new era in patient management

Richard D’Aquila, YNHH and YNHHS president, recently toured the new center with Caitlin Sculley (center) and Maribeth Cabie, YNHHS Internal Consulting Group (ICG). The ICG, Information Technology Services and the Joint Data and Analytics Team worked with Epic Systems to develop the center.

To provide the safest, highest-quality care, the hospital must ensure patients are in the right care settings and receive appropriate treatments in a timely fashion. That sounds simple, but a lot of elements must come together to make it happen.

Yale New Haven Hospital’s Capacity Command Center (CCC), which launched in October, brings those elements together. The center, on NP 5, is staffed 24/7 by staff from Bed Management, the Emergency Department, Environmental Services, Nursing Resource Operation Center, Patient Transport and the Y Access Transfer Center, along with representatives from American Medical Response. Monitors throughout the center display dashboards showing real-time data, including bed capacity, patient transport status, ED operations, nurse staffing and other critical information.

The dashboards can also show “predictive analytics.” These combine historical and current data to predict future scenarios – for example, when the hospital might reach or exceed capacity. Predictive analytics can help the hospital prepare for surges in patient volume and/or influxes of patients with complex conditions.

“Through the CCC, we’re using the enormous amounts of data available from Epic and other sources to improve care, safety and the patient experience,” said Ohm Deshpande, MD, director, Utilization Review and Clinical Redesign, Yale New Haven Health System. “The center provides the right information to the right people at the right time, to enable the right actions.”

The increased access to data available through the center is also driving process changes. For example, to decrease catheter-associated urinary tract infections, Infection Prevention staff can now easily identify all patients with Foley catheters, review their charts and talk with front-line nurses and physicians about removing unnecessary catheters.

“Yale New Haven Hospital cares for the most complicated patients in our region,” said Richard D’Aquila, president, YNHH and YNHHS. “The command center’s staff and infrastructure will allow us to gain unparalleled, real-time insight into our operations, keep the patient at the center of all that we do and enhance our ability to provide the highest-value care. This has never been done in such a large and complex medical center in New England.”