Emergency Departments often determine the pace of the entire hospital. When patients board for hours waiting for beds, the ripple effects impact staffing, discharge timeliness, and overall capacity. To break that cycle, University Health has been strengthening the connection between ED operations and inpatient flow using real-time and predictive intelligence layered on top of their EHR.

In this 30-minute session, Bill Phillips, EVP & COO, and Ashley Schultz, Director of IT Quality Assurance, share how University Health is evolving its ED and inpatient flow strategy from reducing boarding times and accelerating discharge progression to creating more predictable capacity for daily operations. They will discuss how early signals from the ED are now helping inpatient teams plan placement earlier, run smarter huddles, and align staffing to anticipated demand rather than reacting once units are already strained.

Bill and Ashley will highlight the collaborative approach between Operations and IT that has enabled these improvements, and offer practical guidance for health systems looking to improve readiness, strengthen discharge management, and extend the value of their EHR with predictive operational insights.

What attendees will learn:

• Why improving ED flow is the fastest way to unlock inpatient capacity
• How early visibility from the ED is enabling UH to plan admissions and discharges more effectively
• How predictive insights support smoother staffing and smarter huddle routines
• What an Operations–IT partnership looks like when building a hospital wide flow model