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

8:00am – 8:10am
Chairperson's Opening Remarks

Roundtrip

8:10am – 8:50am
Ground Ambulance Operations: Staffing, Fleet Management and Response Time Optimization
Organizations operating ground ambulance fleets serve as community lifelines yet face persistent challenges with paramedic shortages, vehicle maintenance costs and meeting response time benchmarks. This session explores strategies for optimizing ground ambulance operations including staffing models that address paramedic and EMT shortages, best practices for vehicle maintenance and replacement cycles, measuring and improving response times, and patient outcomes. Learn from operators managing large fleets about balancing cost control with service quality while maintaining regulatory compliance and community trust.

Chad Liedl, MSN, RN, NREMP
Senior Director, Ambulance Service
Mayo Clinic 

Matt Will
Director, Ambulance Service
Mayo Clinic  

8:50am – 9:30am
Data Analytics and Performance Measurement: Using Data to Drive Transportation Improvement
Data analytics is transforming healthcare transportation from reactive service delivery to predictive, optimized operations. Organizations are leveraging data to improve response times, reduce costs and enhance patient outcomes. This session explores practical applications of data analytics in transportation operations including key performance indicators for different transportation modalities, predictive analytics for demand forecasting and resource allocation, real-time dashboards for operational monitoring, quality metrics tracking patient safety and satisfaction, financial analytics measuring cost per trip and reimbursement capture, and using data to communicate value to stakeholders and regulators. The speaker will share approaches to building data capabilities and translating analytics into operational improvements.

Roundtrip (Sponsored Session)

9:30am – 10:00am
Networking & Refreshments Break

10:00am – 10:40am
Interfacility Patient Transfers: Transfer Center Operations and Bed Placement
Interfacility patient transfers represent a critical component of healthcare delivery as patients move between facilities seeking appropriate levels of care. Transfer centers coordinate these movements managing bed placement, clinical appropriateness and logistics coordination. This session explores transfer center operations including staffing models and 24/7 coverage strategies, bed tracking systems and real-time capacity visibility, clinical triage and appropriate level of care determination, coordinating ground vs air medical transport, communication protocols between sending and receiving facilities, and managing surge periods when capacity is constrained. Hear about approaches to optimizing patient flow through strategic transfer management while maintaining clinical quality and patient safety.

Christopher Tanski, MD, MSEd
Associate Chief Medical Officer
SUNY Upstate Medical University 

10:40am – 11:20am
Right Patient, Right Asset, Right Time: Orchestrating Multi-Modal Medical Transport from a Single Command Center
Most transport conversations happen in silos — rideshare, ground, rotor, fixed-wing, 911, interfacility, and discharge transport. This session takes the orchestration view: how you match transport modality to the context, patient acuity, geography, time-sensitivity, and cost, and how a health-system capacity command center operationalizes those decisions in real time. Nathan will present what they’ve built at Emory Healthcare, coordinating patient flow into, between, and out of their hospitals. Attendees will leave with:

- A framework for mapping the full spectrum of transport assets to patient condition and cost

- The decision logic for selecting the right asset (clinical, time, geographic, available local resources, financial)

- How a command-center model coordinates multi-modal transport and drives safe, efficient patient flow

- The metrics that prove it's working — appropriateness, time intervals, and clinical quality

Nathan Stanaway, MS, NRP
Director of Patient Transport & Logistics
Emory Capacity Command Center
Emory Healthcare

11:20am – 12:00pm
Sustaining Improvement in Transportation Operations: Building Learning Culture Beyond Initial Pilots
Many health systems launch transportation improvement initiatives but struggle to sustain them once the pilot phase ends. This session will explore how to build organizational infrastructure and culture that keeps improvement momentum going, including change management strategies for frontline transportation staff, embedding rapid-cycle testing into daily operations, measuring what actually matters to transportation teams, and creating feedback loops that keep staff engaged in improvement work.

Scott Jahnke
Patient Flow Command Center Director
UCLA Health 

12:00pm – 1:00pm
Networking Lunch

1:00pm – 1:40pm
Air Medical Transport: Clinical Operations, Safety and Cost Management
Air medical services provide critical care transport for time-sensitive emergencies and interfacility transfers yet face unique operational challenges including weather-related delays, regulatory compliance and cost recovery. This session examines air ambulance program management including clinical protocols for flight teams and critical care capabilities, safety management systems and risk mitigation strategies, weather decision-making and flight planning processes, managing costs in fixed-wing and rotor-wing environments, billing and reimbursement challenges, and coordinating seamlessly with ground EMS and hospital systems. Jeff will share approaches to maintaining clinical excellence while ensuring financial sustainability in air medical operations.

Jeff Richey, RN, MHA, FACHE
Chief Air Medical Officer
Airlift Northwest UW Medicine
Associate Administrator
Lab Medicine, Pathology and Telecommunication 
Harborview Medical Center UW Medicine 

1:40pm – 2:20pm
Movi (Sponsored Session)

2:20pm – 2:50pm
Networking & Refreshments Break

2:50pm – 3:50pm
Panel: Building Your Healthcare Transportation Strategic Plan
This panel will discuss developing a comprehensive strategic plan that aligns transportation operations with organizational objectives, financial targets and community needs. Learn to assess current state capabilities, identify strategic opportunities and create actionable implementation roadmaps driving measurable improvements in transportation performance and patient outcomes. Topics include conducting transportation needs assessments, developing financial sustainability models, building cross-functional partnerships, implementing technology and process improvements, and measuring impact on patient access and health outcomes.

Panelists:
Rene Wise
Manager, Patient Transport
Atrium Health Cabarrus 

Adam Fitzhenry, MBA
Director of EMS Operations
Memorial Hermann Health System

Christopher Tanski, MD, MSEd
Associate Chief Medical Officer
SUNY Upstate Medical University

3:50pm – 4:30pm
Workforce Development: Recruiting, Training and Retaining Transporters, Dispatchers and Transportation Professionals
The healthcare transportation workforce faces critical shortages affecting patient transporters, dispatchers, paramedics, EMTs and administrative staff. Organizations struggle to recruit qualified candidates, provide adequate training and retain experienced personnel amid competitive labor markets and demanding work conditions. This session examines workforce development strategies including recruitment approaches targeting diverse candidate pools, onboarding and training programs that build clinical and operational capabilities, retention strategies addressing compensation, scheduling and workplace culture, career ladders that move transporters into clinical and leadership roles, addressing burnout and supporting staff wellness, and succession planning ensuring leadership continuity. Speakers will share innovative approaches to building and maintaining high-performing transportation teams from the front line up.

Christopher Kissam, AAS   
Weekend Operations Supervisor, Patient Transport 
Atrium Health Cabarrus 

4:30pm – 5:10pm
From Fragmented to Coordinated: Building the Business Case for Centralized Transportation Governance
Many health systems operate transportation across isolated silos, each campus managing workflows, vendors and processes independently. The Transportation Maturity Model provides a framework for assessing current state and systematically advancing strategy across Ownership, Tech, Payment, Network and Analytics. At Memorial Hermann, this approach transformed fragmented operations into coordinated strategy, delivering measurable results: staff satisfaction shifted from 64% dissatisfied to zero, ED holding times dropped 49%, and costs came under control. Learn how to assess your maturity level, build stakeholder buy-in and implement strategic improvements that demonstrate real impact on patient flow and operations.

Adam Fitzhenry, MBA
Director of EMS Operations
Memorial Hermann Health System 

5:10pm
End of Day One