Success Stories

Springhill Medical Center Transforms Patient Flow with AI-Powered Innovation

1/2 Day Reduction in average length of stay

50% Reduction in discharge processing times

90% EDD compliance achieved

90% Reduction in outpatients in inpatient beds

Summary

Springhill Medical Center is a leading healthcare system within its region. The 270-bed acute care hospital has received prestigious recognitions, including being named a Top 100 Hospital and a Top 100 Hospital with Magnet Designation by IBM Watson Health. With an extensive continuum of care spanning an ambulatory surgical center, imaging center, physician practices, skilled nursing facility, and inpatient rehab facility, they handle over 11,000 acute care discharges annually supported by its 1,000+ employees. While providing high-quality patient care, the system recognized opportunities to further streamline discharge management and enhance care team coordination across its facilities, prompting their digital transformation journey.

Profile

270 beds

11,000 acute care discharges annually

1,000+ employees

Top 100 Hospital with Magnet Designation by IBM Watson Health

Problem

Despite dedicated efforts through unit huddles, physician meetings, and metric reporting, the organization faced challenges in coordinating care across teams and gaining real-time visibility into each patient’s care progression and discharge readiness. These well-intentioned initiatives sometimes resulted in siloed communication and fragmented collaboration, making it difficult to holistically manage patient flow and length of stay.

The clinical teams recognized the need for a more unified approach that could bring the right care providers together, facilitate seamless communication, and provide clear insights into each patient’s remaining milestones before discharge. While the metric reports aimed to highlight areas for improvement, they occasionally added more noise than actionable insights for frontline staff.

Driven by a commitment to continuous improvement, Springhill sought a comprehensive solution to bridge these gaps and enable sustainable enhancements in operational performance and patient throughput. This realization prompted their journey toward a digital transformation that could streamline discharge management and enhance care team coordination across their facilities.

Solution

Partnering with LeanTaaS, Springhill Medical Center implemented iQueue for Inpatient Flow to automate and standardize discharge planning across the system. The platform’s sophisticated EDD prediction model, combined with watch lists and capacity management alerts, enabled proactive planning aligned with forecasted demands. This empowered clinical coordinators to prioritize and drive discharges in units of greatest need, while discharge expeditors worked cross-functionally on active cases.

iQueue ensured a consistent, repeatable process by enabling early identification and resolution of discharge barriers, expediting simple home discharges, and maintaining collaboration across shifts. The system facilitated proactive evaluation of outpatients, reduced unnecessarily prolonged stays, and flagged high-risk patients for timely interventions. By streamlining these processes, Springhill Medical Center optimized length of stay and significantly improved overall discharge efficiency.

Within less than two months, we saw remarkable improvements that surpassed our expectations. This rapid success is just the beginning – we have achieved even greater results as we’ve built on these early wins

Jeffery St. Clair

President/CEO, Springhill Medical Center