Establishing a “care coordination command center” can transform a hospital’s approach to operations and management, according to a recent blog post by Corey Gaarde and Mike Lawless of IMEG Corp.

Some hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins and AdventHealth in Central Florida, have successfully incorporated these mission control-type operations to streamline their hospital functions and guide patient transfers. Such command centers employ a team of experts who manage a holistic patient experience of care, ensuring the best outcome for each individual and the most efficient use of resources for the healthcare system.

The technology and infrastructure needed to support these centers is available and often already in use by healthcare facilities, but the infrastructure needs to have resiliency for power, data, and HVAC to avoid disruptions. This investment can be more cost efficient if the center and other offsite mission critical functions are grouped together in a common building.

While countless healthcare systems are evaluating new care models for maximizing efficiencies in response to COVID-19, smaller hospitals in rural areas can especially benefit from leveraging telemedicine command centers to meet the influx of patients amid ICU bed shortages. Regardless of hospital size or location, a variety of hospital functions could be considered for a care coordination command center, including patient monitoring/telemetry, eICU or eAcute care, clinical communication, facilities and environmental monitoring, and energy management.

Care coordination command centers are most successful when healthcare designers, engineering firms, manufacturers, and caregivers collaborate to design a center that increases efficiency, improves operations, and, most importantly, provides optimum patient and care team satisfaction.

Click here to read the blog.