Health Care, Rewired

Virtual command centers are reshaping hospitals, boosting efficiency and preparing facilities for everything from flu season to mass casualty events

- by ALEXIS KAYSER

IN THE WINTER OF 2023, STAFF AT Children’s Mercy Kansas City were waiting for the “surge”: a dreaded period when viral illnesses like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus lead to a rise in hospital admissions.

As the winter bled into 2024, it became clear that something had changed. Children were still getting sick and requiring advanced medical care, but staff weren’t “feeling the angst” like they had in years past, according to Dr. Jennifer Watts, the hospital’s associate chief medical officer of acute care and inpatient services.

The difference, Watts said, came from technology. That was the hospital’s first year using GE HealthCare’s Command Center software, a product that allows it to digitally monitor care delivery and track patients’ progress throughout their stay. It’s like the “NASA” control hub for the health system, Watts told Newsweek.

As hospitals across the U.S. face rising demand for their services, Children’s Mercy is one of 300 hospitals around the world that use GE’s Command Center technology to improve operational efficiency and polish the patient experience.

Before developing a Patient Progression Hub, driven by GE’s tech, Children’s Mercy was still dealing with inefficient, outdated processes, according to Watts. Information was not centralized, and it was common to see staff pinning memos on bulletin boards and communicating with fax machines.

Within seven months of implementing the Command Center technology, the hospital saw an 86 percent reduction in admission delays and cut avoidable bed days by 24 percent—creating capacity for 300 more medical-surgical patients without expanding its facility.