Rohan Bhargava (is Medical Student, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Susan R. Russell MD (is Associate Professor and Clinical Practice Director, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Gabrielle Matias MD (is Pulmonary Disease & Critical Care Medicine Fellow, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Michelle L. Prickett MD, MS (is Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Anthony Rescan (is Senior Analytics Developer, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Ben Tan (is Data Engineer, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Jacqueline Zimmerman MS, MBA (is System Director, Clinical Documentation and Quality Utilization, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Vi-An Nguyen MHA (formerly Program Manager, Canning Thoracic Institute, Northwestern Medicine, is Senior Consultant, Oak Street Health, Chicago), Charles Rank MHA (is System Director, Canning Thoracic Institute), Momen M. Wahidi MD, MBA (is Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Medical Director, Canning Thoracic Institute), Jesse Meyer MBA (is Vice President Operations, Northwestern Medicine), Preeti Kansal MD (is Associate Professor, Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Diane B. Wayne MD (is Professor, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Chief Medical Officer, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago), Nandita R. Nadig MD, MS (is Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Please address correspondence to Rohan Bhargava)
{"title":"Enhancing Quality in Patient Transfers: A Dashboard Approach to Track Interhospital Medical ICU Transfers","authors":"Rohan Bhargava (is Medical Student, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Susan R. Russell MD (is Associate Professor and Clinical Practice Director, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Gabrielle Matias MD (is Pulmonary Disease & Critical Care Medicine Fellow, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Michelle L. Prickett MD, MS (is Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Anthony Rescan (is Senior Analytics Developer, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Ben Tan (is Data Engineer, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Jacqueline Zimmerman MS, MBA (is System Director, Clinical Documentation and Quality Utilization, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Vi-An Nguyen MHA (formerly Program Manager, Canning Thoracic Institute, Northwestern Medicine, is Senior Consultant, Oak Street Health, Chicago), Charles Rank MHA (is System Director, Canning Thoracic Institute), Momen M. Wahidi MD, MBA (is Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Medical Director, Canning Thoracic Institute), Jesse Meyer MBA (is Vice President Operations, Northwestern Medicine), Preeti Kansal MD (is Associate Professor, Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine), Diane B. Wayne MD (is Professor, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Chief Medical Officer, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago), Nandita R. Nadig MD, MS (is Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Please address correspondence to Rohan Bhargava)","doi":"10.1016/j.jcjq.2026.01.004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Interhospital transfers account for 1.5 million inpatient admissions annually. Yet post-transfer patient outcomes and resource utilization vary significantly. Visualizing these data can help health systems optimize transfer practices. The objective of this project was to develop a novel Interhospital Medical ICU (MICU) Transfer Dashboard displaying data on incoming medical MICU transfers to a tertiary health system and create a blueprint for other hospitals to follow.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>After establishing a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, administrators, data analysts, and information technology engineers, the authors used guidance from the Academic Medical Center Patient Safety Organization Inter-hospital Transfer Task Force to identify quality metrics and key variables relevant to MICU transfers. Using the Epic Clarity database and electronic health records, the authors built automated algorithms to identify transferred patients. Indicators were used to calculate relevant metrics, allowing for aggregation and visualization of desired variables.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The developed MICU Transfer Dashboard allowed visualization of key metrics, including (1) number of transfers confirmed/canceled, (2) cancellation reasons, (3) mortality within 48 hours of transfer, (4) changes in level of care within 24 hours of transfer (downgrades/upgrades to ICU, medical/surgical floors), and (5) time from request to transfer. Additional variables added during iterative refinement included patient acuity (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA] score), length of stay after transfer, organ transplant procedure encounter, and discharge dispositions.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>To the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first published reports of a dashboard capturing quality metrics for interhospital MICU transfers. Early learnings from the dashboard have identified process gaps, refined workflows, and leveraged technology to optimize transfers at the health system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14835,"journal":{"name":"Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety","volume":"52 4","pages":"Pages 187-193"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1553725026000073","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/1/24 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
Interhospital transfers account for 1.5 million inpatient admissions annually. Yet post-transfer patient outcomes and resource utilization vary significantly. Visualizing these data can help health systems optimize transfer practices. The objective of this project was to develop a novel Interhospital Medical ICU (MICU) Transfer Dashboard displaying data on incoming medical MICU transfers to a tertiary health system and create a blueprint for other hospitals to follow.
Methods
After establishing a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, administrators, data analysts, and information technology engineers, the authors used guidance from the Academic Medical Center Patient Safety Organization Inter-hospital Transfer Task Force to identify quality metrics and key variables relevant to MICU transfers. Using the Epic Clarity database and electronic health records, the authors built automated algorithms to identify transferred patients. Indicators were used to calculate relevant metrics, allowing for aggregation and visualization of desired variables.
Results
The developed MICU Transfer Dashboard allowed visualization of key metrics, including (1) number of transfers confirmed/canceled, (2) cancellation reasons, (3) mortality within 48 hours of transfer, (4) changes in level of care within 24 hours of transfer (downgrades/upgrades to ICU, medical/surgical floors), and (5) time from request to transfer. Additional variables added during iterative refinement included patient acuity (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA] score), length of stay after transfer, organ transplant procedure encounter, and discharge dispositions.
Conclusion
To the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first published reports of a dashboard capturing quality metrics for interhospital MICU transfers. Early learnings from the dashboard have identified process gaps, refined workflows, and leveraged technology to optimize transfers at the health system.
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