Improving Patient Flow in Hospitals & Health Systems
Timely, efficient patient transfers are critical to ensuring patients receive the right level of care when they need it most. All too often, operational inefficiencies stand in the way. The result? Treatment delays, strained resources and missed revenue opportunities.
Conduit Health Partners’ patient transfer services address these challenges. We help improve patient flow in hospitals and health systems by streamliing the transfer process, easing pressure on care teams and achieving significant return on investment.
Improve Hospital Patient Flow with an Outsourced Patient Transfer Center
Is your hospital or health system experiencing patient flow challenges? One of the most overlooked ways to improve patient flow and minimize ED wait times is to partner with an outsourced patient transfer center service. Patient flow is the hidden driver behind your KPIs, and making improvements offers benefits like faster transfers, system-wide efficiency, and cost savings.
Benefits of Using a Patient Transfer Center
Hospitals and health systems who utilize an outsourced patient transfer center, like with Conduit Health Partners, experience the following benefits:
Health systems can achieve a nearly 3:1 Return on Investment
One Call for Faster Transfers
At the heart of Conduit Health Partners’ transfer service model is clinical expertise. Our highly trained transfer nurses serve as a centralized command point. They skillfully navigate clinical conversations, assessing acuity and coordinating every aspect of the transfer process in real time.
Our team is available 24/7 to:
Streamline communication between facilities for faster decision making
Coordinate bed placement, transport logistics and handoffs with minimal disruption to frontline teams
Support appropriate level-of-care placements, preserving continuity and safety
Our expert teams improve patient flow and reduce administrative burden for physicians and staff — while allowing system leaders to achieve measurable efficiency, patient flow and revenue improvements.
Patients with behavioral health needs often require urgent attention and fast transfers to an appropriate environment. We helped Mercy Health — Springfield achieve a 64% reduction in ED length of stay for these patients. Read the case study.
Optimized System-Wide Efficiency
We bring structure to a process that is often fragmented, ensuring all hospitals within the health system are serviced using the same protocols. Benefits include:
- Mitigate patient holding— Conduit Health Partners helps improve throughput by managing outbound transfers and direct admissions. Patients spend less time waiting in the ED or hold areas.
- System-wide load balancing — Conduit Health Partners team directs placements based on real-time availability and clinical need, preventing bottlenecks and promoting full use of system resources.
Mercy Health — Toledo saw improvements in patient outcomes and satisfaction after partnering with Conduit Health Partners on the “Top Gun” initiative. Patient transfer times decreased by an average of 34%. Direct admissions to the health system’s metro hospitals increased by 54% per week. The total number of transfer-related communications dropped by 12%. Read the case study
In a recent webinar, healthcare executives from Bon Secours Mercy Health share how they partnered with Conduit Health Partners to transform their transfer center operations.
Cost Savings
Efficient patient transfers make better use of existing resources, preserve continuity of care and increase revenue. Conduit Health Partners delivers significant financial impact by offering:
- Support for in-network transfers — Patients get the care they need within the health system rather than being transferred to an out-of-network competitor.
- Data-driven decision-making — Conduit Health Partners’s operational and clinical analytics provide system-wide transparency throughout the transfer process. Stakeholders get actionable information to guide service line development and operational improvement decisions.
- Custom workflows — We partner to develop processes tailored to specific diagnoses and your service lines.
In one year, Conduit Health Partners’ transfer services achieved significant ROI for key specialties at a large health system. Results included 7:1 for cardiology, 6:1 for neurosciences and 4:1 for general surgery. Overall ROI was 3:1. For a full breakdown, read the whitepaper.
Improve Your Hospital's Patient Flow
Patient flow refers to the movement of patients from arrival to discharge in a health system. Hospitals and health systems monitor patient flow to ensure both patients receive care promptly within the health system.
Patient flow is a priority for hospitals and health systems. Efficient patient flow improves care quality by focusing on smooth and timely delivery of care. Inefficient patient flow, however, often leads to overcrowding, negative health outcomes, staff burnout and poor patient experience ratings.
One way to improve patient flow in hospitals and health systems is by implementing an outsourced patient transfer center, such as Conduit Health Partners’ Transfer Center service. Utilizing a nurse-led transfer center, you ensure decisions are clinically sound, patient-centered and aligned with system goals.
To manage patient flow, many hospitals:
- Optimize admission and discharge processes
- Improve staff communication and coordination
- Implement efficient ED triage services
However, implementing a nurse-led transfer center and nurse-first triage service into your health system’s strategy can greatly impact patient flow and unnecessary ED utilization, improving both patient and employee satisfaction rates, which in return improves hospital ROI.
For hospitals with overcrowded emergency departments, patient flow can be improved by utilizing an outsourced patient transfer center company, such as Conduit Health Partners. With this service, remote nurses handle the operational tasks of facilitating acceptance, coordinating communication and transportation. By outsourcing these operational tasks, the emergency department staff has more time to care for patients and improve patient flow.