Sanjay Pattani, MD, Associate Chief Health Officer for AdventHealth Orlando, Executive Medical Director for Mission Control, talks about a drug that brings cholesterol levels to such a low point they are able to prevent some heart diseases.
When you hear the title, Mission Control, what comes to your mind
PATTANI: Let’s break it down into two words. Mission can refer to the organization’s mission, which is always geared towards patient-centered care. Control takes on a little bit different connotation, which means how do we obtain better control over how we’re delivering the care for our patients? So how can we better do that? How do we do that systemically and efficiently? Mission Control puts together the terminology for a program we have here at AdventHealth that really takes into consideration how we deliver our care to our patients when they need us?
As an emergency medicine physician, you’re familiar with the ins and outs, flow, and total unpredictability of what you get day to day. How does a system like this benefit people who are coming in to be checked?
PATTANI: We visited different sites where there are different types of command centers, which have attempted to achieve centralized control or monitoring. What we’ve tried to obtain here at AdventHealth Orlando by developing a program like this is to really bridge the gap between data and patient care. By that, I mean every patient that comes into the system has different sets of needs. What we’re trying to do is identify those needs both before they need them and when they need them, then help drive that care in a more efficient way as they progress through our system.
Can you walk us through what these folks are looking for and kind of the steps that a person would go through?
PATTANI: When we’re looking at the screens, we also see what patients need. So as the patient walks into the emergency room or as a patient walks into the operating room and they’re getting the care that they need, we identify when they need progression of that care. So as a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital, we’re proactively arranging a bed for that patient. When a patient needs to get a radiology study, like an X-ray, we try to arrange for the most efficient manner that patient gets that X-ray when they’re admitted to the hospital. It’s a progression of care. The command center attempts to really create seamless transition for the patient as you enter our system, move through our system and more importantly, after our acute care episode.
You mentioned as you were walking through the center, you saw a real-world example of how a patient benefited. Can you explain that?
PATTANI: One of the advantages we have here, setting up such a tremendous infrastructure, we’re blessed to have the leadership really promote the development of a command center that can capitalize on all the data and infrastructure we’re gathering. We have now real time information on our patients’ needs. We can kind of arrange, if you will, the care that patient needs when at times we would not have been able to. The information we have now is displayed in real time. We’re able to make active decisions. Instead of being reactive, we can be proactive. So right now, I just walked over to one of our supervisors who identified that we have a transfer from a facility outside of our area with a head bleed. If you look at our hospital census, it notes that all beds are filled with a patient. Ordinarily, what we would do is try to coordinate by phone calls, visiting the floor, talking with the charge nurses, talking with the attendings, trying to see if we can accept this patient? Do I have a bed? When are the patients leaving? Setting up what we have done here at the command center, we have complete visibility on patient care transition. So, we know a patient that is in the ICU that no longer needs the ICU and is waiting for a bed somewhere else in the hospital. We’re able to see that we do have virtual capacity and can say yes to that patient and take care of that patient when they need us.
What does that mean in terms of mortality and morbidity? You have a patient with a serious injury that it might take some time in normal circumstances to come back?
PATTANI: It cuts down manual processes and automates our decision-making. It’s giving us information much more passively so we can have triggers and make those decisions in real time. What that means and how it translates to patient care is it minimizes delay and increases patient safety. It really gives AdventHealth Orlando the ability to say yes and to serve our community better.
We talked about artificial intelligence and how that plays a role. Can you explain?
PATTANI: Part of the command center here is built upon different layers. The first layer we set up was a system of infrastructure that connects our system together as far as data points. The next layer is building off that data. So right now, we’re taking in a lot of information based on historical performance and current performance. What we’re going to take to the next level in patient care is, how do we now predict when we’re going to need and what we’re going to need? So, for example, if we know that tomorrow, we’re going to have an increase in volume based on historical performance and high capacity season, the flu season, we can anticipate higher than normal volumes. We can adjust accordingly with our resources and staff it at a higher level. So how do we coordinate patient care needs with organizational staffing needs? We’re being proactive in our decision-making. Artificial intelligence is helping us with this predictability. We’re going to be able to predict if we need environmental services more during certain hours of the day? Or, if we need to more efficiently optimize our radiology department by CAT scan or by extra portable chest X-rays? We’re getting information. But we’re not just using that information now, we’re using it to predict in the future. That’s the next level of patient care.
What does that say to you about the future of health care and where this kind of model is going?
I think we’re fortunate that our leadership realized the need for what we have tried to start here, which is really a connectivity platform. The mission control here at AdventHealth Orlando is unique. Yes, there are predecessors like Johns Hopkins and other organizations. What they developed is more confined, if you will, to one or two hospitals. AdventHealth Orlando’s Mission Control encompasses a system or structure of eight different facilities, four different freestanding MED’s. What that means is we’re the first in the nation to systemically connect our data and our patients. We are the largest to scale and have the highest number of staff. We have the highest number of transfer rates. We are the marquee command center in the health care industry.
How often are you in here? Do you have a role within the mission command? What do you think when you walk through and see it buzzing with activity?
PATTANI: I was part of this project from its inception, from planning to development, as you see in front of us. I get excited only because I know this is just the beginning. We have started something that’s going to continuously evolve to meet the needs of our community. And, we’re on the cutting edge. Technology is changing every day. So, what we’ve done here is try to develop something that’s scalable and flexible in that respect. We expect this to change. We expect our focus to shift as the healthcare industry evolves. I use the parallel a lot of times of an iPhone. iPhone started with very basic applications on it and a user interface. Today, that same user interface exists, but it has multiple different applications that stretches across your whole life. We expect mission control to evolve and change as we morph it to fit the needs of not just the organization, but the patients that we serve.
Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you’d want to make sure people know?
PATTANI: Yes. I think that the digital sophistication here is really complex. I’m well-versed in some of the tech and some of the process re-engineering, but I don’t want to lose focus of what the intention is here. Patients are going to realize that they’re going to benefit from the ramifications from the development of this entity. Patients will receive benefit and impact by getting a seamless care process that’s going to minimize delays. It’s going to get you here in the doors, in a bed, to a doctor faster, better and more efficient.
Interview conducted by Ivanhoe Broadcast News in December 2018.
END OF INTERVIEW
This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Penny Porteous
Penny.porteous@adventhealth.com
David Breen
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