IC-PFM hospital software solution

Infection Control - Patient Flow Manager
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IC-PFM Software Overview

IC-PFM is a sophisticated data gathering and calculation rich, hospital decision support tool for front line medical care workers and management.
patient transfer overview

Target is to reduce wait times and improve bed / assets utilization by accelerating the Patient Transfer Process from Hospital to Service Provider to Patient.
patient transfer project

Using Process Improvements in Patient Transfers to increase capacity and reduce wait times.

Benefits

Reduces Operational Costs
Improves Patient Safety
Reduces ICP Surveillance workload by 80%
Eliminates Unnecessary Patient Bed Days

Reduces Delays and Bottlenecks
Reduces Emergency Wait Times

Services List

Patient-Flow.net's services are based on expertise, experience, and reputation. Our services are divided into the following service areas:

Process Improvements in Patient Transfers
Increase Capacity and Reduce Wait Times

Enhance efficiency to end-to-end process flow

Reduced transfer cycle time and cost

Reduced patient “stay” duration

Reduced number of manual tasks

As-Is Process Model

As-Is Process Analysis & Assessment

To-Be Process Design

Cost Benefit Projection

Organizational Change Assessment & Strategy Plan

ONTARIO Hospitals not discharging patients on time, delays in ERs

The Canadian Press: Mon, Dec 6, 2010
ONTARIO Hospitals not discharging patients on time, delays in ERs: watchdog

TORONTO - Many Ontario patients aren't discharged from hospital on time and are still facing overcrowding and delays in emergency departments despite extra government cash, the province's financial watchdog said Monday.

More than 50,000 patients stayed in hospital longer than necessary last year because their ongoing care couldn't be arranged, auditor general Jim McCarter said in his annual report.

About one in five patients require support when they leave the hospital, from home care to rehabilitation to nursing-home care, he said.

About half the patients who needed home care had to wait in hospital an average of six extra days, while 90 per cent of those who needed long-term care waited more than four months.

McCarter found that those patients end up occupying much-needed beds that could help alleviate the long waits in hospital emergency departments.

Many ERs still aren't meeting provincial targets for wait times, despite $200 million in extra funding over two years, he said in his report. Wait times for patients with serious conditions reached 12 hours or more - far off the province's eight-hour target.

"Overcrowding and delays in emergency rooms continue to be an issue often because hospitals have problems freeing up in-patient beds," McCarter said in a release.

"When there are no beds for new admissions, patients have to wait in emergency rooms, and that causes overcrowding and delays."

Emergency patients who needed to be admitted to hospital waited an average of 10 hours for a bed, while others waited 26 hours or more. Often there were beds available, but they sat empty because they hadn't been identified or cleaned, the report found.

One hospital received a complaint from a cancer patient who waited three days in an emergency department for a hospital bed. It was later discovered that the hospital had been holding 24 patients in the ER, even though there were 18 empty beds available.

About two-thirds of the hospitals surveyed by the auditor didn't have the capacity or infrastructure to measure how long empty beds were unoccupied, he said.

McCarter also found that some patients waited for more than an hour to be triaged, far longer than the recommended 10 to 15 minutes.

Some hospitals were also spending extra money - and risking staff burnout - by having nurses work overtime, particularly during the nights, holidays and on weekends.

One nurse's overtime accounted for more than half her salary for nine years, he found. The nurse took in $157,000 last year, $90,000 of which was overtime pay.

The level of home care services also varied widely across the province, with some patients waiting up to 15 months to be assessed, he found.

http://www.globaltoronto.com/Ontario+hospitals+discharging+patients+time+delays+watchdog/3934775/story.html


ONTARIO ERs not meeting wait-time targets

Mon, Dec 6, 2010, 3:16:26 by ctvtoronto.ca
A new report by Ontario's auditor general finds that the province's hospital emergency rooms aren't meeting targets for wait times despite $200 million in extra funding over the past two years.

In the report released Monday, Jim McCarter said that ER woes are linked to problems elsewhere in the hospital system.

Because care couldn't be arranged for hospital patients awaiting discharge, more than 50,000 patients were kept in hospital longer than necessary, he said.

“When there are no beds for new admissions, patients have to wait in emergency rooms, and that causes overcrowding and delays," McCarter said.

Emergency patients who required hospital admission waited an average of 10 hours for a bed, with some waiting up to 26 hours, he found.

Wait times for patients with serious conditions had reached 12 hours or more. The province’s target is eight hours.

"Guidelines used in Ontario emergency departments recommend that patients be triaged within 10 to 15 minutes of arrival, but some patients waited for more than an hour," McCarter said.

Some hospitals have limited resources with respects to on-site specialists and diagnostic services. This is hurting their ability to treat emergency patients quickly, he said.

Another problem is finding nurses, especially to work on nights, weekends and holidays, the watchdog said.

McCarter said one nurse earned $157,000 in 2009, with $90,000 coming in overtime pay, he said.

Home care

The report found that home-care service can vary widely by location across the province.

Only three of the province's 14 Community Care Access Centres had no waiting lists. The other 11 had 10,000 people on waiting lists, with an average wait time of eight days -- and the longest being 262 days.

Some patients had waited up to 15 months just for an assessment, he said.

About 50 per cent of patients who could have been discharged from hospital -- had home-care been available to them -- spent an average of six extra days in hospital each as they waited for such care, he said.

Part of the problem is that the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care is allocating funding based on what it paid in the past, rather than by the "specific needs of the local clientele," McCarter wrote.

Given its aging population, Ontario faces more strains on its system in the coming years, he said.

"In 2009, people aged 65 or over accounted for just 13% of Ontario’s population but almost 60% of patient-days in hospital," McCarter wrote.

"In the next 20 years, the number of seniors is expected to double, making the need for efficient discharge procedures all the more critical.

"http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101206/ontario-auditor-general-mccarter-report-101206/20101206?hub=TorontoNewHome"




Highlights of Auditor General's Annual Report

Mon, Dec 6, 2010, 2:12 PM by The Canadian Press
Ontario’s auditor general released his annual report Monday. Here are some highlights:

  • Half of the $3.1 billion in federal-provincial infrastructure stimulus funding was awarded to projects that were not shovel-ready as required.


  • More than 50,000 people spent too long in hospital last year because of the time it took to line up post-discharge care for them.

  • Emergency room wait times are still too long, often because of a delay in finding in-patient beds even when beds are available.

  • People in need of home care get varying levels of services depending on where they live because of outdated funding models.

  • Organ donor cards carried in your wallet are virtually meaningless and not acceptable criteria for consent to donate.

  • The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation is off by more than 20 per cent of the actual price in one out of every eight homes, meaning people are paying too much or too little property tax.

  • The agency that collects and distributes court ordered support payments handles only 20-to-25 per cent of its total cases in any given year, leaving vulnerable families without the money they are owed.

  • There is $70 million in “critical” repair work needed at Ontario’s 24 colleges next year, and the province needs to double the $40 million it spends annually to maintain the aging post-secondary institutions.

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