Inpatient occupancy at Cincinnati Children's rose from 76% to 91% after it smoothed its elective surgery schedule, Eugene Litvak reported in 2012.
91%
inpatient occupancy at one children's hospital after it smoothed its elective surgery schedule
Inpatient occupancy at Cincinnati Children's rose from 76% to 91% after it smoothed its elective surgery schedule, Eugene Litvak reported in 2012.
Cincinnati Children's built a scheduling system for elective surgery to cut swings in daily demand, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement reports. The slide credits the figures to Dr. Frederic Ryckman of the hospital.
Sources: Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap: Operations Management Science, Patient Safety and Health Care Cost (presentation) (opens in a new tab), Slides 21 and 22, Managing variability in patient flow: success stories; source on slide: Frederic Ryckman, MD, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Achieving Hospital-wide Patient Flow (Second Edition), IHI White Paper (opens in a new tab), Page 13, Cincinnati Children's elective surgery scheduling. Verified October 2026.
Related charts
- From the blog
Cincinnati Children's went from 76% to 91% occupancy after smoothing its surgery schedule
Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap, National Academies presentation (2012); Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Achieving Hospital-wide Patient Flow, 2nd edition (2020) - From research
Hospital drug expenses grew 13.6% in 2025, nearly twice as fast as total expenses
American Hospital Association, Costs of Caring 2026 (March 2026) - From the blog
A boarded med-surg stroke patient cost nearly twice as much a day as one on a ward
Canellas et al., Annals of Emergency Medicine, vol. 84 (2024) - From the blog
Hopkins assigned ED patients a bed 30% faster after opening a command center
Johns Hopkins Medicine, Capacity Command Center news release (October 2016)
Sources for the figures above: Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap: Operations Management Science, Patient Safety and Health Care Cost (presentation) (opens in a new tab); Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Achieving Hospital-wide Patient Flow, 2nd edition (2020) (opens in a new tab); American Hospital Association, Costs of Caring 2026 (March 2026) (opens in a new tab); Canellas MM et al., Measurement of Cost of Boarding in the Emergency Department Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing, Annals of Emergency Medicine 84(4) (opens in a new tab); The Johns Hopkins Hospital Launches Capacity Command Center to Enhance Hospital Operations (news release) (opens in a new tab).
Related facts
7%
yearly surgical volume growth at one children's hospital
Surgical volume at Cincinnati Children's grew 7% a year for at least two years after it smoothed its elective schedule, Eugene Litvak reported.
Source: Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap: Operations Management Science, Patient Safety and Health Care Cost (presentation).
KentApplied$137M
a year, in one 2012 account
In Eugene Litvak's 2012 account, the occupancy gain at Cincinnati Children's resulted in $137 million a year, plus more than $100 million in avoided capital cost for 75 beds.
Source: Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap: Operations Management Science, Patient Safety and Health Care Cost (presentation).
KentApplied16
beds of capacity a day
Five years after it opened, Johns Hopkins said its capacity command center had freed the equivalent of 16 beds a day without building or hiring.
Source: Capacity Command Center Celebrates 5 Years of Improving Patient Safety, Access.
KentApplied
Sources for the figures above: Eugene Litvak, Bridging the Gap: Operations Management Science, Patient Safety and Health Care Cost (presentation) (opens in a new tab); Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Achieving Hospital-wide Patient Flow, 2nd edition (2020) (opens in a new tab); Capacity Command Center Celebrates 5 Years of Improving Patient Safety, Access (opens in a new tab).
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