7:15am – 8:00am
Conference Registration & Networking Breakfast

8:00am – 8:15am
Chairperson's Opening Remarks

8:15am – 9:00am
Whole-System Patient Flow: Moving Beyond Department-Level Fixes
Most patient flow research concentrates on individual units or emergency departments but breakthrough improvements require whole-hospital perspectives coordinating capacity across all units simultaneously. Organizations achieving transformative results recognize patient flow as interconnected system requiring alignment from admission through discharge across multiple departments, specialties and support services. This session will examine system-level flow approaches including daily interdisciplinary huddles coordinating inflows and outflows, shared language frameworks enabling cross-departmental communication and comprehensive data visibility identifying bottlenecks before they cascade. Topics to be discussed will include structures supporting system-wide coordination, physician engagement strategies transcending individual unit priorities and measuring flow performance holistically.

Candace Kravetz, MSN, RN, CMS-RN, NE-BC
Manager Clinical Administrators/Capacity & Transfer Management Center
WakeMed Health and Hospitals 

Marcy van Schagen, MSN, RN, CNML
Director System Capacity and Patient Placement
WakeMed Health and Hospitals

9:00am – 9:45am
Enhancing Patient Flow and Clinical Outcomes: The Role of the Physician Advisor in Hospital Transfer Centers
As tertiary care hospitals face increasing demands for timely and appropriate patient transfers, the integration of physician advisors into transfer center operations has become a critical strategy to optimize patient flow, ensure regulatory compliance, and support clinical decision-making. This lecture explores the evolving role of the physician advisor in hospital transfer centers, highlighting their impact on interfacility transfer coordination, bed utilization, and care continuity. Key topics will include the physician advisor’s responsibilities in reviewing transfer requests, facilitating medical necessity determinations, liaising between clinical teams, and advising on appropriate levels of care. The presentation will also examine how physician advisors contribute to risk mitigation, support EMTALA compliance, and enhance relationships with referring facilities. Real-world examples and best practices will illustrate how a physician advisor can serve as a strategic partner in improving both operational efficiency and patient outcomes. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to structure and leverage physician advisor involvement in transfer center workflows, and the tangible benefits this role brings to healthcare delivery systems.

Carissa J. Tyo, MD, FACEP
Medical Director, Clinical Decision Unit
Medical Director, Care Management and Physician Advisors
University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System

9:45am – 10:15am
Networking & Refreshments Break

10:15am – 11:00am
End-to-End Patient Flow: Integrating Transfer Center, Command Center, Care Management, Discharge and Bed Management
Optimizing patient flow requires more than improving a single-entry point, bed board or discharge process. High-performing organizations are connecting transfer center intake, command center situational awareness, care management barrier removal, discharge readiness planning and bed management into one coordinated operating model that manages the full patient journey from referral or admission request through safe transition out of the hospital. This session will examine how integrated teams use predictive analytics, real-time bed visibility, escalation protocols and multidisciplinary coordination to balance incoming demand with available capacity, accelerate placement decisions, remove avoidable discharge barriers and create capacity for the next patient. We’ll explore how transfer center leaders, bed planners, case managers, discharge teams, nursing operations, physician advisors and command center staff can work from one shared operational picture to move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive capacity orchestration. Topics to be discussed will include:

• Operating models linking transfer center demand, command center visibility and bed management decision-making
• Predictive analytics identifying admission pressure, discharge opportunity and capacity risk before bottlenecks escalate
• Care management and discharge workflows that remove barriers early and convert expected discharges into usable capacity

Jennifer Bartelt
Administrator
Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service & Midwest Admission and Transfer Center 

Brooke Gentzler, MS, CNMT
Administrator, Rochester Hospital Operations Command Center
Mayo Clinic

11:00am – 11:45am
GE

11:45am – 12:30pm
Multi-Facility Flow Coordination for Health Systems
Health systems operating multiple hospitals face coordination complexity optimizing patient distribution, balancing capacity utilization and maintaining consistent processes across geographically dispersed facilities. System-wide flow strategies enable load balancing by sending appropriate patients to facilities with capacity, standardized protocols ensuring consistent quality regardless of location and centralized command centers orchestrating system-level capacity. Learn about multi-facility flow coordination including governance structures enabling cross-site decision-making, technology providing system-wide visibility, patient distribution protocols and managing facility-level versus system-level priorities. The session will also highlight the integration of centralized Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) operations, centralized staffing with a large multi-specialty float pool, and virtual discharge processes to optimize patient throughput and maximize system-wide resource utilization. We’ll also discuss measuring system performance versus individual hospital metrics, building collaborative culture across competitive facilities and demonstrating system coordination value.

Shannon Baum, MSM
Vice President, System Capacity & Patient Logistics
Flex Team and Contract Labor | Patient Care Logistics Center | Centralized Monitoring Unit |Patient Escort Services
Baptist Health 

Sarah Davis, RN, MBA
Manager, Patient Care Logistics Center
Baptist Health & Wolfson Children’s Hospital

Rebecca Habecker RN, BSN
Flex Team Clinical Manager
Baptist Health

12:30pm – 1:30pm
Luncheon

1:30pm – 2:15pm
Length of Stay Optimization: Converting Excess Days to Capacity
Reducing excess hospital days—time patients remain hospitalized beyond clinically optimal duration—creates equivalent bed capacity without construction while improving outcomes and reducing costs. Organizations achieving meaningful LOS reduction implement systematic approaches including clinical milestone tracking ensuring appropriate progression, care pathway adherence, utilization review identifying avoidable delays and command center coordination removing barriers. This session will examine LOS reduction strategies delivering measurable results including care coordination models, physician engagement approaches, case management integration and technology enabling real-time LOS monitoring. Learn about risk-adjustment methodologies ensuring valid comparisons, interventions appropriate for different patient populations and demonstrating LOS improvement value.

Dr. Joshua Martin, RN, BSN, MHA, DBA, NE-BC
Director of Nursing
Pioneers Medical Center 

2:15pm – 3:00pm
Real-Time Visibility Technology: The Foundation of Proactive Flow Management
Technology enabling real-time situational awareness across the entire hospital represents the infrastructure shift separating reactive from proactive capacity management. Organizations replacing manual processes (phone calls, spreadsheets, bed huddles) with integrated visibility platforms enable coordinated decision-making based on shared operational pictures showing bed status, pending discharges, bottleneck locations and capacity constraints. This session will examine technology stack requirements including EHR integration, bed management systems, communication platforms, analytics dashboards and mobile access for frontline staff. You'll explore implementation approaches, change management ensuring adoption, measuring technology ROI and avoiding common integration failures.

Jeffrey S. Kuo, MD, MMM, FACEP, FAAEM
System Chair, Patient Flow & EMS
System Medical Director, Emergency Management & Security
System Medical Director, Emergency Medicine Telehealth
Physician Lead, Event Medicine
Senior Staff Emergency Medicine Physician
Emergency Response & Airway Management Physician, New Orleans Saints
Ochsner Health

Amber Hebert
Assistant Vice President Patient Flow
Ochsner Health

3:00pm – 3:30pm
Networking & Refreshments Break

3:30pm – 4:30pm
Panel: Building Collaborative Culture for Flow Excellence
Sustained flow optimization requires cultural transformation engaging clinicians, nurses, case managers, environmental services, transportation and administration in shared accountability for system performance rather than isolated departmental metrics. Leaders successfully building flow-focused cultures share approaches to stakeholder engagement, resistance management, creating visibility into how individual roles affect overall flow and celebrating improvements. This panel will discuss cultural obstacles to flow optimization, communication strategies resonating across disciplines, incentive alignment and sustaining improvement momentum beyond initial wins.

Panelists:
John Renzi, DNP, MBA, CCCTM, NE-BC
Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Adjunct Faculty- Jefferson College of Nursing
Jefferson Health 

Elizabeth Menschner, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Executive Officer
Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders

Phil Hatfield DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE
Vice President Patient Care Services
Main Line Health

4:30pm – 5:15pm
Transfer Center Operations: Coordinating Patient Placement System-Wide
Transfer centers serve as orchestration hubs coordinating patient movement across facilities, managing external referrals, optimizing system-wide capacity utilization and ensuring appropriate care placement. Effective transfer operations increase acceptance rates, reduce decision timelines, improve referring provider satisfaction and maximize revenue through better case mix management. We’ll explore transfer center models including staffing with clinical expertise, physician advisor involvement, bed availability coordination across multiple facilities, technology platforms supporting rapid placement decisions and measuring transfer center performance. Learn about common transfer barriers, integration with command center operations and building transfer center value propositions. Topics to be discussed will include:

• Transfer center staffing models balancing clinical expertise and coordination capacity
• Physician advisor roles accelerating complex placement decisions
• Technology platforms enabling real-time bed visibility across facilities
• Performance metrics including acceptance rates, decision times and referring provider satisfaction

Tracy Briguglia, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Associate Director of Nursing
Throughput Operations
Upstate Medical University

5:15pm
End of Day One