How Healthcare Organizations Can Centralize Their Care Delivery

Mission control–style command centers have helped healthcare organizations to maximize capacity at a time when resources have been stretched thin. The timing couldn’t have been better. In June 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health unveiled its new Mission Control Command Center. The solution aimed to use data to improve practices across the Washington state healthcare system, including patient transfers, bed turnaround time, staffing and utilization of equipment. In early 2020, those efficiencies became even more important as COVID-19 patients overwhelmed hospitals across the U.S., stretching resources to their breaking point.

“Organizations that have a command center have really been able to centralize their operations,” says Jennifer Hickenlooper, insights director for KLAS Research. “Being able to increase efficiencies and visibility into resources was key to helping with the pandemic, as there were shortages of both beds and staff. This visibility helped organizations to increase their staffed capacity, match patients where there was availability and route them to the right location throughout their organization.”