As patient demand continues to grow, health systems are increasingly challenged to create capacity without relying on new construction or additional beds. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System addressed this by evolving how patient flow is managed day to day, building a more consistent and predictive operating model across the organization.

In this session, Susan Grimwood shares how Sarasota Memorial strengthened inpatient flow and discharge management by planning the hospital day earlier, improving visibility into demand, and aligning teams around clear priorities and accountability. By redesigning how decisions are made and executed throughout the day, the organization was able to unlock meaningful capacity through operations rather than physical expansion.

Over time, this approach became a repeatable operating model that scaled across the system, supporting sustained improvements in throughput, discharge performance, and length of stay without expanding the physical footprint.

This session offers practical insight into how health system leaders can rethink daily operations to manage growing demand while maintaining reliability, consistency, and quality of care.

Attendees will learn:

• How Sarasota Memorial created capacity by redesigning daily operations rather than adding beds
• Why earlier planning and visibility into demand changes how the hospital day runs
• How clear prioritization and accountability support more reliable flow
• What it takes to sustain and scale operational improvements over time