COVID-19 is causing many hospitals and health systems to face resource and capacity restrictions, making the accurate estimation of COVID-19 requirements crucial. Carle Health needed the ability to anticipate the impact COVID-19 would have on its organization and community. After analyzing national COVID-19 capacity planning resources, Carle chose a model that was customized for its organization. Carle leveraged its analytics platform and data science tools, using local data and infection rates to forecast the impact of COVID-19 locally. The organization now has critical insight into when surges will occur and can determine if it has enough available resources.
COVID-19 is causing many hospitals and health systems to face resource and capacity restrictions, making the accurate estimation of COVID-19 requirements crucial. Carle Health needed the ability to anticipate the impact COVID-19 would have on its organization and community. After analyzing national COVID-19 capacity planning resources, Carle chose a model that was customized for its organization. Carle leveraged its analytics platform, using local data and infection rates to forecast the impact of COVID-19 locally. The organization now has critical insight into when surges will occur and can determine if it has enough available resources.
Accurately forecasting COVID-19 demand is critical for hospitals and health systems, many of which face extraordinary resource and capacity constraints.1 Carle recognized its need to accurately estimate the impact COVID-19 would have on its organization and the surrounding community.
Carle needed a way to anticipate and meet the demand for facility, supply, and human resources required to care for patients with COVID-19 in their community. National and even county-level COVID-19 capacity planning resources are not adequate to determine how to balance load and shift services at an individual hospital and unit level.
Carle leveraged the Health Catalyst® Data Operating System (DOS™) platform and a robust suite of analytics applications, including a capacity planning tool that uses Healthcare.AI™, to forecast census and related bed, staffing, and supply needs at the level of patient acuity. Carle uses dynamic regional infection spread and market share data and augments these assets with the internal clinical, operational, length of stay, staff, and supply data to anticipate COVID-19 activity.
Carle now has critical insight into when patient surges will occur and can efficiently identify if those surges will exhaust its available resources, or when they have capacity for non-emergent cases, improving the organization’s ability to plan and act. Leaders use the forecasting data to inform decisions and adjust operations as needed to accommodate increasing demand.
By using DOS, the capacity planning tool, and Healthcare.AI, Carle has achieved the following results:
"The Health Catalyst partnership and COVID-19 capacity planning tool are powerful, and we’ve already identified how we can use data science and advanced analytics to improve other health issues."
- Robert Healy, MD, Chief Quality Officer
Carle will continue to monitor COVID-19 forecasts and leverage its robust data and analytics to continually enhance the capacity planning tool, making certain it is well prepared to meet the needs of its patients and communities.
