Medical City today announced its new strategy to integrate a revolutionary software solution that utilizes artificial intelligence to automate patient flow throughout the hospital and improve operational efficiencies by creating a dynamic patient itinerary.  As a result, all the different departments within Medical City will have a common view of each patient's daily itinerary, which will be adjusted in real-time as variables change throughout the day.  Medical City will be the first hospital in Texas to utilize this system.

"We immediately understood the benefits of the new software system and how it could positively impact the patient experience," said Dr. Britt Berrett, chief executive officer, Medical City.  "Because the system offers a powerful enterprise solution that runs almost like an air traffic controller, it keeps patient activity on track across all departments.  As a result, patients benefit from a smoother experience and Medical City benefits from improved utilization of existing resources."

The patient care software system was designed to minimize the impact of unpredictable disruptions in scheduling across the hospital by streamlining coordination and communications among all caregivers.  Utilizing artificial intelligence algorithms, the system creates what is called a patient itinerary, or a dynamic orchestration of each patient's resource plan of care.  This itinerary is a dynamic tool, which is created for inpatients, outpatients and emergency department patients.  The itinerary is continually adjusted in real-time as conditions change and it communicates to all caregivers instantaneously.

"As a part of our commitment to our fiscal responsibility, we are always looking for innovative and effective ways to improve our bottom line," shared Scott Schmidly, chief operating officer of Medical City.  "On-Cue provides us with a resolution that will recommend the best course of action in real-time, enabling us to optimize our resources.  By streamlining coordination and communication between our departments, we believe we can generate real costs savings which can do nothing but provide greater benefits to our patients and our organization," continued Schmidly.

Hospitals are constantly dealing with unpredictable and unplanned changes that affect every department in the hospital including Radiology, Cardiology, Surgery, Nursing, Transport, the Emergency Department and more.  Ensuring smooth patient flow in light of these occurrences can be a monumental challenge for hospitals.

"We are constantly looking at new technologies for all of our hospitals to improve workflow and the overall patient experience," said Stan Seremet, chief information officer, North Texas Division, Hospital Corporation of American (HCA).  "The new system addresses these objectives by providing a layer of intelligence over our existing IT systems to ensure that all departments are coordinated and operate smoothly."

The software solution will be installed at Medical City Dallas Hospital in the fourth quarter of 2009.