ONS Annual Report 2010 - US Department of Veterans Affairs

VA Bed Management System (BMS)
ONS Network: Office of Nursing Services Informatics (ONSI)
BMS is an automation tool to drive and, at the same time,
monitor data transfer processes in real-time for a particular
patient, or activities at a facility or Veteran Integrated
Service Network (VISN) level. BMS IT requirements
originated from the Flow Improvement Inpatient Initiative
(FIX) redesign efforts already taking place at local
facilities. The VHA Systems Redesign office established a
Patient Flow Center collaborative to support coordinated
implementation with operations redesign to enable new
inpatient flow management functions. For example,
initiating admissions, coordinating transfers, cleaning and
assigning beds are all processes that can be monitored
using this technology, resulting in the following advantages:
� Efficient planing, preparation, and management of
patient flow
� Reduction of “fee basis” days and costs
� Tracking of current and pending bed availability
� Identification and anticipation of peak demands
� Maximized use of hospital capacity
� Providing visibility of bed availability for emergency management
� Aligning ward names (with nursing locations) within BMS within the nursing package
Notable Milestones:
� Phase I: Demonstrated initial operating capability (FY2009-FY2010)
� All sites will have installed operating version 1 of BMS (by end of FY2010); an Integrated Project
Team will be chartered for BMS Class I software development and deployment
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