COVID-19 Level-Loading: Transferring Emergency Department Patients to a Partner Academic Medical Center Within a Healthcare System.

COVID-19 continues to challenge bed capacity and the ability of hospitals to provide quality care for patients around the country. However, the COVID-19 pandemic at a given point in time does not impact all hospitals equally-even within a single healthcare system, one hospital may be caring for patients in the hallways, while another has available inpatient beds. Here, we demonstrate a program to level-load COVID-19 patients between 2 academic medical centers in a healthcare system by transferring patients at the time of admission from the emergency department of one institution directly to an inpatient bed of the other institution.

Current Emergency Preparedness Resources and Capabilities Among Academic Health Systems in the United States.

Objective: Although hospital emergency preparedness efforts have been recognized as important, there has been growing pressure on cost containment, as well as consolidation within the US health care system. There is little data looking at what health care emergency preparedness functions have been, could be, or should be centrally coordinated at a system level.

Methods: We developed a questionnaire for academic health systems and asked about program funding, resources provided, governance, and activities.

Expedited Discharge from an Academic Emergency Department: A Pilot Program.

Background: As the numbers of emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions continue to increase, there is growing interest in alternatives to inpatient hospitalization.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate a novel approach to expediting discharges from the ED with multidisciplinary discharge services to prevent an avoidable admission into the hospital.

Methods: This pilot study was conducted at a large urban tertiary-care ED in 2016.

Multidisciplinary team streamlines hospital schedules, patient care.

Massachusetts General Hospital staff members use data to reassess patient flow, optimize facilities and enhance patient experience.