Success Stories

Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute Decreased Average Patient Wait Time by 27%

27% Decrease in average wait time

14% Decrease in average scheduling lead days

10% Increase in average daily completed volumes

Summary

Part of the 36,000-employee Hartford HealthCare (HHC) network, the only integrated healthcare network in Connecticut, the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute provides care throughout its seven hospitals, nine medical oncology practices, and 13 infusion centers in communities throughout the state. The Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute diagnoses and treats nearly 6,000 new cancer cases each year, amounting to about one third of the cases in the state population.

Profile

188 chairs

14 centers

Epic EHR

Community Health System

Northeastern US

Problem

This high volume of cases, spread across a large network, led to challenges for Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute to provide treatments. Coordinating the many infusion visits with their appropriate clinics made scheduling complicated at a baseline. The appointments that were made were not appropriately load-leveled throughout the day, with too many made at midday peak hours so that nurses would have periods of idleness interspersed with stretches of heavy workloads. These schedules created delays that in turn caused long patient wait times. Add-on patients were difficult to accommodate in this environment, needlessly limiting access to care.

Solution

To address these issues, Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute implemented iQueue for Infusion Centers for its 180 beds over the span of 18 months. The predictive and prescriptive data offered by the solution allowed Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute infusion schedulers to coordinate linked patient appointments and level out schedules throughout the day, while determining the likelihood of add-ons and accommodating them as needed. As a result of using iQueue to balance its schedules, Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute achieved an increase in average completed volumes while utilizing existing resources, a decrease in both drug and infusion wait times for patients, and an overall positive impact on nursing workflows.