The command center could grow to 40,000 square feet and employ 300 when fully functional, said John Weimer, vice president of emergency and trauma services for Kettering Health.
“We are pleased and proud to bring this high-tech center to the Dayton area,” said Fred Manchur, CEO of Kettering Health.. “As Kettering Health Network continues to grow, we have created additional access points to our health care services. We want our patients to receive the best care in the most efficient manner possible.”
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The command center being built on the first floor will “provide the foundation and technology needed to assess health system operations in real-time, to shine the light on bottlenecks before they occur, to predict and manage patient demand, and to proactively assign the right resources,” Manchur said.
TeleTracking Technologies Inc. will provide integrated software that streamlines and automates a patients progression, as well as transfers patients into the network from all access points including the emergency department, operating room, direct admissions and transfers from other facilities.
The technology also does a lot of the “logistics and critical thinking” that will help clinicians determine the best route of treatment for patients based on other cases of similar complaints, ages, etc., Weimer said.
Before the command center, each of the network’s facilities had a varying process of using Kettering Health’s electronic medical record system, and hospitals were most concerned with what was going on within their individual walls, Weimer said. The new system will allow the hospitals to work as one network to care for patients across all facilities.
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“When we move that from our campus to a network, it really allows us to utilize our entire system for whats best for that patient, family and physician,” he said.
The network is in the process of finding out what works best from the methods at each hospital to create one cohesive system. Greene Medical Center and Soin Medical Center will be the first to go live in November or December, Weimer said.
The command center will initially serve to centralize Kettering Health’s transportation, patient bed placement and path of discharge. The network plans to centralize other operations in the coming years, according to the release.
“When you think in regards to the need to have a facility like this, think about air traffic control, think about NASA, think about managing mass disasters,” Weimer said. “When you have a control center, that’s really what we’re going to be able to do. Thousands of patients a day will be moved through this command center…it was just critical to have all of that information in one spot.”
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