Effective patient flow and throughput are essential for delivering high-quality care and enhancing patient experience, while managing operational costs. This past May, Alameda Health System (AHS) launched the Centralized Transportation Hub (CTH) pilot, a new initiative to streamline patient movement across care settings, ensuring smooth transitions throughout their health care journey.
“Our commitment to delivering high-quality, patient-centered care goes hand in hand with continuous process improvements for more efficient patient transportation,” said Thomishia Booker, director of care management. “The CTH pilot is designed to improve internal workflows for staff for better efficiencies but it also allows Alameda Alliance assigned patients to utilize this member benefit through Modivcare, our provider of non-emergency medical transportation.”
Booker and Berlinia Leonor, director of system administrative services are leading the CTH implementation pilot that centralizes patient transport and throughput, enabling AHS to order, track and manage all health care transportation with one centralized process.
“Co-leading Phase I of the CTH pilot alongside my colleague Berlinia has been incredibly rewarding,” said Booker. “The biggest win has been achieving our goal of reducing non-emergency medical transportation costs, all while enhancing patient access to care.”
The pilot has already seen significant spend reduction for the system. Following implementation of Phase I of the pilot, AHS has achieved operating improvements and efficiencies including a reduction of 92.9% in average weekly cost for ambulatory transportation, a reduction of 98.4% in average weekly cost for post-acute transportation, and a 58.3% reduction in non-medical transportation such as Lyft rides.
The major change to the previous transportation workflow is that staff call into the CTH rather than individual online transport ordering. Previously, scheduling patient transport often involved multiple touchpoints leading to delays and inefficiencies. By centralizing transportation requests, the CTH gives medical staff a single process to order transport quickly, reducing bottlenecks in patient flow and improving timely access to care.
Kamaljit Mahil, medical clerk at Fairmont Rehabilitation & Wellness credits CTH for making her day-to-day work more efficient. “The Hub has helped by creating a correct flow of information on the transportation our patients need,” she shared. “By creating this Hub, it has not only helped our patients, but it is also helping staff with getting their patients to their appointments on time.”
Phase II of the CTH pilot is currently underway for John George Psychiatric Hospital and Fairmont’s behavioral health department. Phase III will include our community hospitals and Highland Hospital inpatient areas, and Phase IV will focus on AHS emergency departments. The approximate time frame for completing all phases of the CTH pilot is the second quarter of 2025.
For more information on the implementation, including contacts and FAQs, visit the Centralized Transportation Hub.