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The Role of the Transfer Center in Building a Service Line Center of Excellence
September 3, 2026
A center of excellence needs more than clinical expertise to earn regional trust. See how a strategically aligned Transfer Center supports access, physician connections, and consistent patient flow across neuroscience, cardiovascular, and orthopedic service lines.
What Health Systems Miss When Nurse Triage Data Across Their Medical Group Stays Fragmented
August 25, 2026
Fragmented nurse triage data across employed medical groups hides patterns in demand, access gaps and ED referrals. See what standardization reveals and why it matters.
Featured posts
How Health Systems Reduce After-Hours Provider Burden Without Expanding Call Coverage
After-hours provider burden is reduced through nurse-first triage, clear escalation logic, and better visibility into after-hours workflows.
When After-Hours Access Is Covered—But Not Reliable
After-hours access may be covered, but that doesn’t mean it’s reliable. Learn how unreliable after-hours care drives provider burnout, avoidable utilization and patient leakage—and how nurse-first triage improves outcomes.
Faster Care, Lower Costs, and Higher Revenue: Conduit and Bon Secours Mercy Health Featured in Avia Marketplace Webinar on Transfer Center Best Practices
Getting patients to the right level of care quickly is essential for delivering high-quality health care. However, managing transfers across a health system can be complicated, inefficient, and costly. Without an optimized transfer center, hospitals and health care providers risk delays, strained resources, and missed revenue opportunities.
In our webinar, leaders from Bon Secours Mercy Health share how they successfully transformed their transfer processes by partnering with Conduit Health Partners.
NEWS & ARTICLES
In-House vs. Outsourced Patient Transfer Centers: A Financial Comparison
Every patient transfer is both a clinical decision and a financial one. In large health systems, the structure of your transfer center directly affects how many patients remain in-network, the speed of placement, and the revenue you retain. The decision to operate in-house or outsource should begin with a clear, data-driven financial analysis.
Schmitt-Thompson Nurse Triage Guidelines: Why They Matter and What Sets Conduit Apart as a Nurse Triage Partner
Every unnecessary ED visit drains time, money, and morale—and many are preventable. The key is how you use your triage protocols.
At Conduit Health Partners, we go beyond simply using Schmitt-Thompson guidelines, the industry standard. Our trained RNs apply them the right way, with real-time routing and integration aligned to your system’s goals,
Closing Pediatric Care Gaps Through After-Hours Support
When children fall ill or need urgent care after their pediatrician’s office has closed, families often face uncertainty and anxiety. Traditional office hours simply don’t align with the realities of busy family life, leaving many parents scrambling for answers in the middle of the night or on weekends. This gap in care can lead to unnecessary emergency room visits,
How Nurse-First Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Patient Access
In a recent article featured in Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH), our president Cheryl Dalton-Norman shared insights on how nurse-first strategies, like nurse triage and patient transfer solutions, are helping health systems ease provider strain while improving the patient experience.
At Conduit Health Partners, we know firsthand that health care delivery continues to face immense pressure: rising patient volumes,
How Nurse-First Triage and Transfer Centers Are Reshaping Health Care—Insights from Conduit’s COO
In a recent conversation with Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog, Dominique Wells, MSN, RN, chief operating officer at Conduit Health Partners, shared insights into how nursing is evolving, and how Conduit Health Partners is at the forefront of this transformation.
Conduit Health Partners supports overburdened nursing teams with high-impact services including patient transfer operations and nurse-first triage.
Partnering to Extend Trusted Pediatric Care Around the Clock
A Case Study of Conduit Health Partners and Hello Pediatrics
In pediatric care, timely access and reliable after-hours nurse triage services are everything—especially for parents seeking guidance late at night. That’s why Hello Pediatrics, a physician-founded and physician-led organization, set out to ensure continuous care without compromising physician well-being.
How a Nurse-First Model Can Improve Access and Efficiency Across Health Systems
Health systems across the country are facing compounding challenges. Staffing shortages are straining clinical teams, emergency departments are overcrowded.
Rethinking Patient Transfers: A Hidden Key to Financial Sustainability
In a recent op-ed published in Avia Marketplace, Dominique Wells, MSN, RN, chief operating officer at Conduit Health Partners, explores how health systems can unlock financial sustainability and operational efficiency by rethinking patient transfers.
An Overlooked Opportunity
With rising operational costs, shrinking reimbursements and workforce burnout at an all-time high,
Smart Load Balancing: Ensuring the Right Patient Gets to the Right Facility
Is this a familiar situation?
Your main acute care hospital is at capacity. Rural facilities are holding patients in the emergency department, waiting for transfers. Other hospitals in your network have available beds and the right clinical capabilities, but patients are not being sent there. Not because they cannot manage the case,
Designing the Future of Health Care: Real Estate, Tech & Patient Experience
In health care, real estate strategy is about more than just buildings. It’s about shaping experiences for patients, providers and staff. In this episode of Industry Insights with Cheryl, Cheryl Dalton-Norman, president of Conduit Health Partners, sits down with Stevie Bander, managing director of Healthcare Consulting at CBRE,
Streamlining Patient Transfers to Ease ED Bottlenecks
Emergency departments are often the first stop for patients in need of urgent and life-saving care. Yet across the country, EDs are overwhelmed and plagued by long wait times, staffing shortages and increasingly complex patient needs. These challenges not only delay care, but they also place added pressure on clinical teams and compromise patient safety.
Preventing Readmissions Starts Before Discharge: The Role of Nurse-First Triage
Hospital readmissions are a persistent challenge for health systems across the country. Nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted within 30 days of discharge, costing the healthcare system billions of dollars each year. Beyond the financial burden, readmissions impact patient outcomes, contribute to overcrowding in hospitals, and can lead to penalties for health systems under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP).
NEWS & ARTICLES
Patient transfer center
Integrating a Patient Transfer Center into Your Health System: A Guide for Health Care Leaders
A patient transfer center can play a pivotal role in optimizing patient flow and enhancing outcomes across your health system. However, implementing such a system requires careful planning, strategic execution, and an emphasis on change management. This article outlines the top strategies healthcare leaders can employ to successfully integrate a patient transfer center,
Enhancing Patient Care Through Innovative Solutions
In a recent interview with RamaOnHealthcare, Dominique Wells, chief operating officer at Conduit Health Partners, shares insights on improving patient care through strategic innovations. With a rich background in nursing and health care technology, Dominique now leads Conduit’s efforts in providing nurse-first triage,
Combating Network Leakage: The Benefits of Outsourcing a Transfer Center
Network leakage is a significant challenge for health care systems, impacting both patient care continuity and financial stability. When patients seek care outside their designated network, it disrupts service delivery and results in substantial revenue loss. Addressing this issue is critical for health systems to deliver high-quality care and ensure the financial health of the organization.
Optimizing Load-Leveling and Streamlining Patient Transfers: A Case Study on Mercy Health – Toledo’s Top Gun Initiative
Challenge: Rural Hospitals Struggle to Transfer Patients Needing Advanced Care
Imagine you are part of the emergency department team at a rural hospital. You have a patient who is medically stable but requires a higher level of care. You contact the acute hospital within your health system, which has the necessary specialists,
Behavioral Health Collaboration Reduces Emergency Department Length of Stay by 64%
Focus on timely transfer for acute behavioral health patients improves patient safety and outcomes
A recent collaboration between Conduit Health Partners and Mercy Health — Springfield Regional Medical Center has significantly streamlined care transfers of behavioral health patients from the emergency department (ED) to appropriate care settings.
Streamlining Behavioral Health Transfers
One of the most challenging patient situations for a health system is providing efficient and effective care to patients with suicidal ideations. Suicidal ideations demand urgent attention, yet shortages in behavioral health (BH) care beds often leave patients waiting in emergency departments (ED) for days. Not only does this impact the throughput and safety of the ED,
24-7 nurse triage
Rural Health Transformation Program Funding: Why Nurse-First Triage Strengthens Access
The $50B Rural Health Transformation Program is set to reshape care in rural America. Nurse-first triage offers health systems a practical way to expand access and support funding applications with measurable results.
A New Federal Investment in Rural Health
Through the One Big Beautiful Bill, Congress created the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program.
5 Signs Your Health System Should Invest in a Nurse Triage Line
If your physicians are spending nights on non-urgent calls or your emergency departments are filling up with cases that could have been handled elsewhere, the issue is not just patient behavior. It is access.
Large health systems are under more pressure than ever to meet rising patient demand with limited resources.
Leading with Purpose: Colleen Williams’ Journey in Clinical Management at Conduit
Clinical Manager, Nurse Triage, Scheduling, and Outreach | Conduit Health Partners
Meet Colleen Williams, clinical manager of Nurse Triage, Scheduling, and Outreach at Conduit Health Partners. With over six years at Conduit Health Partners, Colleen plays a vital role in overseeing daily operations, supporting her teams and ensuring high-quality service delivery to both clients and patients.
How Nurse-First Triage Helps Reduce Provider Burnout
Provider burnout remains a pressing issue for health systems, impacting not only clinicians but also the quality of care patients receive. A 2023 survey by the American Medical Association found that 48.2% of physicians experienced at least one symptom of burnout, with more than half attributing it to a lack of support staff and excessive administrative tasks.
Increasing Patient’s Access to Care Through Nurse-First Triage
A Partnership Between Hopscotch Primary Care and Conduit Health Partners
In rural communities, access to timely health care remains a persistent challenge. Hopscotch Primary Care, committed to delivering high-quality care to seniors in these areas, has built a proactive, value-based care model.
However, before partnering with Conduit Health Partners, Hopscotch relied on varying after-hours processes across practices which put a heavy burden on the individual providers.
The Health Care Topics that Topped the News in 2024
As we set our sights on 2025, let’s take a moment to look back at the major stories that shaped health care in 2024. With AI making waves across the industry, we thought it only fitting to turn to the very technology that’s been making headlines for insight into the health care topics that topped the year.
patient outreach and engagement