In an effort to decrease patient wait times, New York-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City) has implemented software resembling an air traffic control center to control patient flow, according to Crain's New York Business.
The NYP/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Patient Placement Operations Center was developed by Pittsburgh-based TeleTracking Technologies. Hospital officials said the point of the new operation is to focus on improving patient experiences and expedite wait times, according to the article.
NYP/Columbia University Medical in New York City implemented the same TeleTracking platform in February, according to the article.
The call center is staffed with registered nurses and patient flow specialists that rely on real-time data to determine the appropriate beds for patients, according to the article.
Officials said they plan on introducing a live-video element allowing operations center personnel to link up with the hospital's transfer center so NYP staff can determine if a patient at a regional hospital outside of the city needs to be transferred.
Hospital officials said initial data from the operations center at Columbia University Medical is promising. Holly Meisner, vice president of patient access at New York-Presbyterian, said the hospital's patient satisfaction score has increased and the time it takes between a patient being admitted and placed in a bed has decreased by roughly 20 percent, according to the article.