Resource Optimization

The Problem

A small rural community hospital needing to accommodate a bolus of unexpected patients when a neighboring Emergency Department closed. The additional volume exposed a bottlenecked system and a potential need for more beds. The operating room also faced undersized and poorly configured space needed to meet the demands of changing technology. When a proposed facility solution was deemed too expensive, the Catalyst’s operations team was engaged to help find ways to reduce capital exposure through an operational improvement.

The Approach

The Catalyst’s operations team used its comprehensive analytical and visualization solutions to identify challenges to capacity, space and staff utilization within the current system. The team worked with executive leadership, physicians and departmental ED and OR staff to create solutions and implementation plans to address operational challenges. To garner system-wide support, Catalyst demonstrated and visualized how improvements and changes could, not only improve their working environment, but improve the patient’s experience, lower length of stay, decrease the amount of patients who leave the ED without being seen, and increase OR productivity.

The Solution

The resulting operational recommendations reduced overall future bed and space needs and identified a much smaller footprint needed to accommodate future patients.