Job Summary/Purpose
Serves as the designated liaison/point-person for emergency departments, healthcare facilities, and community-based physicians/providers to schedule hospital beds for incoming patients to all CHI Franciscan Health (CHI-FH) hospitals, and for coordinating a seamless Transfer/Access Center model for ensuring the timely, efficient and cost-effective utilization of bed resources on a regional basis.
Work also involves responsibility for:
1) tracking/communicating key patient throughput metrics on a regional basis;
2) developing/overseeing a regional length-of-stay multi-disciplinary team (e.g. care management, utilization review, finance, etc.); and
3) working with site-specific patient placement staff to facilitate transfers to other CHI-FH facilities. If no beds are available at any CHI-FH facilities, an incumbent works directly with other hospitals to coordinate external bed placement.
A complex level of knowledge of patient placement/throughput standards, tools and methodologies is required. Excellent customer service relationships with key contacts (patient/families, physicians, and nurses) are important in ensuring continued referral of patients to CHI-FH facilities.
Essential Function
- Coordinates, facilitates, and continually monitors regional patient placement/bed assignments, by serving as regional point-person for CHI-FH emergency departments and community-based physicians/ providers/health care facilities requesting in-patient hospital beds through the Transfer/Access Center.
- Keeps abreast of bed demand/availability/status information on a regional basis in order to ensure patients are placed in the appropriate bed at the right time and to facilitate bed turnaround time.
- Identifies anticipated patient admissions/transfers/discharges and ascertains potential bed availability on a regional basis; maintains ongoing communication with the Emergency Departments and other requesting units to identify shifting priorities/needs for beds.
- Gathers clinical information to clarify clinical acuity and other relevant information bearing on bed and/or hospital placement that is consistent with criteria for the patient’s needs.
- Assesses patient acuity within limitations of RN licensure and determines whether tertiary services are appropriate.
- Determines the “best fit” CHI-FH hospital and/or unit to provide the best level of care and searches for available bed.
- Analyzes changes and makes plans for new bed assignments (in consultation with nursing staff) based on factors such as clinical diagnosis, patient status, risk assessment and availability.
- Participates in daily briefings to exchange information and discuss matters relating to bed management.
- Establishes and maintains a running list of patients at home awaiting a bed assignment; notifies patient and physician when bed is available and communicates all pertinent data.
- Keeps abreast of Environmental Services activities relating to the patient throughput/flow continuum (e.g. bed turnover) to ensure that beds are not left idle and that overall bed/room turnover time is within established standards.
- Coordinates with and provides training to site-specific patient placement staff on patient placements, transfers, and to facilitate bed assignments to maximize patient flow.
- Serves as a resource to management/staff on clinical issues related to bed placement.
- Consults with other staff (e.g. Bed Placement/House Supervisors/Physicians) to find out when beds will be available as patients are discharged or transferred.
- Debriefs managers and hospital supervisors to identify critical/deteriorating patients, discharges, patient issues, etc. at beginning/end of shift in accordance with established procedures.
- Provides training and guidance to other staff in bed management standards and practices.
- Makes/approves bed reassignments as necessary and ensures communication of specific patient information to staff at new location.
- Facilitates ongoing communications across enterprise and with community-based providers/health systems to maintain effective relationships with regard to patient flow/bed placement issues.
- Maintains positive contacts with community-based physicians and providers (e.g. Group Health) to ensure their patients continue to be placed in CHI-FH hospitals.
- Notifies physician/provider of bed availability and coordinates pre-scheduled admissions to ensure bed is ready when patient arrives.
- Ensures that barriers to timely bed placement are addressed and resolved to promote both customer and patient satisfaction.
- Facilitates the resolution of immediate bed allocation concerns, including investigation and follow-up as appropriate.
- Reports unusual patient placement situations, admitting problems or complaints to the appropriate staff on the patient care unit.
- Explains regional processes in order to avoid misunderstanding and minimize discord.
- Investigates, analyzes and resolves conflicts within defined scope of authority.
- Monitors, tracks, and analyzes patient placement systems and other electronic systems continuously to ensure that the system contains current and accurate data.
- Continuously monitors NaviCare system data regarding demand and bed availability.
- Produces reports and analyzes trend data.
- Develops, coordinates, and collaborates on systems/processes to implement best practices and performance improvement for enhancing and standardizing bed management practices on a regional basis.
- Addresses issues such facilitating workflow automation, maximizing hospital capacity, expediting patient throughput/bed turnover and reducing/smoothing inter-departmental and inter-hospital handoffs, and minimizing diverts.
- Determines, tracks and communicates length-of-stay (LOS) and related information, using site-specific LOS data to produce regional statistics, and discussing results with site-based patient placement staff to identify opportunities for process improvements.
- Collaborates with a multi-disciplinary team (e.g. care management, utilization review, finance/patient access, etc.) to address patient flow/bed placement issues/concerns.
- Participates in enterprise-wide committee/task force meetings to help establish procedures to streamline the availability, access, and analysis of historical, current and predictive patient flow information in order to reduce inefficiencies, improve bed placement timing, decrease patient wait times and minimize avoidable patient moves/bed transfers.
- Cultural Sensitivity and Competence: Demonstrates proper use of communication tools/materials for effective communication and understands how the culture(s) of patient populations can affect communication, collaboration and the provision of care, treatment and services.
- Patient Population Served: Demonstrates knowledge and proper skills associated with the department’s defined specific populations served.
