Oregon's Capacity System

This first-of-its-kind tool actively manages hospital data, providing near real-time occupancy information that enables hospitals to maximize resources.

No Time to Waste

With actionable data in the hands of decision-makers, statewide capacity can be optimized and hospitals can mitigate resource constraints collaboratively.

When the COVID-19 virus reached Oregon in March 2020, health system leaders across the state quickly realized that they needed better capacity management across the entire region.

This wasn’t a project that could take months to implement. Instead, within three weeks, 80% of statewide beds in Oregon were being tracked in near real-time, with status updates every five minutes.

Mitigating Resource Constraints Collaboratively

That system born in the early days of the pandemic has helped hospitals across the state successfully navigate patient surges, in spite of Oregon having one of the lowest ratio of beds per capita in the nation. Because decisions about critical resources are not made in isolation, every resource – from beds to staff to ventilators – can be fully leveraged so that every patient can receive the care they need.

“Over the past two years, the Oregon Capacity System has provided an invaluable bird’s eye view of capacity across the state, helping us give timely care to our patients despite the strain the pandemic has placed on our resources,” said Helene Anderson, Regional Director of Capacity & Throughput, Providence.

“This system has given us such a clear and accurate view of capacity across hospitals that we’ve been able to maximize resources and even bring in patients from out-of-state. Having shared visibility has promoted collaboration at the state level to navigate capacity constraints and overcome challenges to patient flow to help patients get the care they need when they need it.”

Dynamically Share Critical Information

Access to near-time bed availability data helps health systems across the state make well-informed timely decisions about staffing and resource utilization and achieve the goal of high-quality patient care for the residents of Oregon.

Using GE Healthcare’s command center software, Oregon’s Statewide Capacity System is tracking 7,368 beds and approximately 800 ventilators across 60 hospitals, while processing 4.2 million data points each day, removing the need to manually track and enter capacity information.

To date the system has saved participating hospitals 45,000 hours of labor, which amounts to roughly 3 million dollars of productivity, and is expected to save even more time as additional automation further reduces the burden of manual reporting.

Regional Capacity Management

    State view
    Region View

    Organize, Track, and Manage Capacity

    Any hierarchy you choose, including state, county, region, Metro service area, or individual hospital.

    Oversee Beds by Type

    ICU, adult, pediatric and resources such as ventilators or ECMO.

    What it does:

    • Real-time capacity management
    • Direct integration with Hospital EMR's
    • Highly scalable across states, regions.
    • Statewide data updated every 5 minute
    • 4-day forecast to ensure OPs are not overscheduled in IP setting

    Information Request