Australia’s not-for-profit private healthcare provider Epworth HealthCare has partnered with Telstra Health to better control of patient movement in February 2017.
Patient Flow Manager, the Telstra’s solution adopted by Epworth, will help staff to get a complete view of patient flow information in near real-time, allowing them to plan admissions and discharges more effectively.
A better access to key data to improve bed flow management
- Today: bed flow management within Epworth Healthcare centers is manual and relies on a series of exchanges between staff about expected or potential discharges. The information flow can be time-consuming and subject to individual interpretation but also sensitivity.
Result: there is a lack of accurate and real-time visibility of current number of available beds across the sites.
- With Patient Flow Manager: staff can see at a glance bed status.
Objective: To have a clear visibility of key data from different hospital’s systems to better analyze trends in patient flow in order to better know and anticipate their movements within the hospital.
This tool represents an important advantage because bed occupancy affects the flow of patients, planning doctors, revenue management and discharge planning.
Monitoring demand for beds in near real-time
The Telstra technology combines information from across the hospital’s systems, including inpatient, emergency and outpatient systems
« As Epworth Richmond expands its services and facilities, access to this information is essential both for managing current demand, as well as for predicting and allocating resources for the future, » explained during the announcement of the partnership Dave Piggott, Telstra Health’s Sales and Marketing Director for Health IQ.
Specifically, « With Patient Flow Manager in place, Epworth Richmond staff will be able to manage the patient journey within the hospital – from admission to discharge – more efficiently. Staff will know bed capacity and demand in near real-time allowing them to plan for and forecast future demand ».
« Patient Flow Manager is now in use at more than 100 hospitals across Australia, providing a targeted solution to a range of real problems hospital staff face every day. »