Unlocking Capacity for Targeted Patient Populations

The Journey to Transformation Starts with Getting Patients to the Right Care Setting

As hospitals and health systems reposition themselves for current uncertainties and future sustainability, the ability to reduce expenses without jeopardizing access or quality becomes a coveted superpower.

Hospitals and health systems can’t simply cut costs indiscriminately. They need a systematic approach, one that considers specific segments of their patient populations. That approach must be supported by:

• A top-down culture that empowers front-line caregivers and staff to surface ideas on how to identify and help specific patient populations.
• Meaningful data to identify and quantify specific issues within those patient populations and point to solutions to those issues.
• The commitment to deploying tools and resources to execute solutions.
• The ability to track progress to resolve those issues and connect results to broader strategic objectives of a hospital or health system.

Case Study: Baptist Health South Florida

Untangling infusion services to create safe spaces for patients

The increasing number of cancer patients who needed outpatient chemotherapy created a challenge for Baptist Health. Cancer patients received their outpatient chemotherapy at Miami Cancer Institute. For years, so did non-cancer patients who needed outpatient drug-infusion services. The net impact was a growing backlog of cancer patients waiting for their chemotherapy as non-chemotherapy patients filled up the schedule. Non-cancer patients were waiting longer for their infusion therapy. Learn how the organization addressed its challenge and improved efficiency.

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Case Study: University of Vermont Health Network

Opening new patient runways

UVM Health Network’s Working to Reduce Admissions Program, or WRAP, quickly proved so successful that it went systemwide for patients in 2020 and for all emergency department patients in 2024. The program’s goal is in its name: Reduce admissions by identifying patients who don’t need to be in the hospital or in the ED to free up capacity for those who do. The biggest opportunity to reduce medically unnecessary admissions and ED visits lie in one specific patient population: high utilizers or “frequent fliers.”

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