This Innovative Hospital in Toronto Is Turning to Advanced Analytics to Improve Patient Care

As populations grow and age, many hospitals are being stretched past their limits. Rather than apply temporary or partial fixes to address the challenges that underlie this busy, acute care hospital, state-of-the-art hospital Command Centre that will enable it to achieve radical gains in quality and efficiency.

Blue-Sky Thinking
The introduction of air traffic control technology in the 1960s allowed airports to swiftly transition from scheduling a few hundred flights a day to managing thousands. Whereas, the volumes of aircraft and flights have increased tenfold, they all vie for the same space. Many airports now see millions of passengers pass through every day.
Despite the vast complexity of such a logistical challenge, the airline industry became significantly safer and more efficient in the process. So it’s no surprise that when GE Healthcare began developing a comprehensive approach to enable hospitals to better manage congestion, they modelled their solution on air traffic control.
Adding a digital Command Centre was a natural fit for Humber River Hospital, not only because it’s recognized as North America’s first fully digital hospital, but also because the busy facility must serve a region representing more than 850,000 people.
The extremely high demand became quickly apparent. After construction of the new hospital was completed in 2015, the hospital was slated to reach full capacity in five years. Instead, they reached that point in just five months.