28 » A magazine for and about Oregon Community Hospitals. APPRISE HELPS OREGON LEAD THE WAY IN HOSPITAL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT The Delta surge pushed Oregon’s hospitals to the limit, making the efficient management of the state’s capacity more important than ever. Now, thanks in part to Apprise Health Insights, the data subsidiary of OAHHS, Oregon is becoming a national leader in managing capacity and critical resources. Oregon is the first state in the U.S. to launch a new statewide command center software platform that will provide near-time bed availability data. The technology is known as the Oregon Capacity System (OCS). Developed by GE Healthcare through a grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Apprise will lead the deployment of OCS across the state by summer of 2022. “We have learned a lot from COVID-19 and the gaps in the health care system with inaccurate data. We are proud to partner and bring this life-saving asset to Oregon for an inside view of capacity across our health care continuum,” said Andy Van Pelt, CEO of Apprise Health Insights. The Delta surge shone a spotlight on Oregon’s capacity crisis, which peaked in late summer and fall of 2021. On September 28, the Oregon Health Authority reported that of the 645 ICU beds in the state, only 53 were available. Finding an available ICU bed or an available ECMO machine often meant clinicians getting on the phone to call other hospitals. OCS is a system enhanced by artificial intelligence that continually and automatically analyzes information on Oregon’s critical capacity. The data goes beyond mere bed counts; OCS also tracks different bed types as well as patient movements, nursing flows, ventilator usage, and more. “The OCS gives us a bird’s eye view of critical care,” said Helene Anderson, the regional director of capacity and throughput at Providence Health & Services. “We know where we have capacity, and we can also coordinate with other services that wrap around the care.” The detailed, up-to-date information helps clinicians make decisions about patient care and where resources are available. Many of Oregon’s hospitals have been using an early version of the app since March of 2020. The system corrals 4.2 million data points every day, updating every five minutes with the latest information. “It’s performed brilliantly,” said Jeff Terry, who leads Clinical Command Centers, the GE Healthcare unit that developed the software. “It’s never gone down, the data’s flowed, it’s been there when needed.” When the final version of the system is rolled out statewide later in 2022, care teams will have access Thanks in part to Apprise Health Insights, the data subsidiary of OAHHS, Oregon is becoming a national leader in managing capacity and critical resources.
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