INTEGRIS Health

PROJECT PURPOSE

During the worst of the COVID surges, more Oklahomans turned to INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center than any other hospital to seek treatment for the most challenging cases. Current ICU capacity was unable to meet the needs of all the Oklahomans who sought care at Baptist, and unfortunately too many Oklahomans were turned away. This project seeks to expand access to Oklahoma?s most acute care to ensure more Oklahomans can be treated for severe COVID and other illnesses when they need it. This project aims to meet Oklahoma?s growing needs for specialized and acute care by leveraging ARPA funds to enlarge INTEGRIS Health?s already planned expansion on the Baptist Medical Center campus. INTEGRIS Health has committed funding to replace all current ICU beds on the campus with state-of-the-art facilities. Any additional funding will expand the project, resulting in net-new universal ICU beds for Oklahomans. Additionally, INTEGRIS Health seeks assistance to cover startup costs for a new tele-ICU unit, which would allow rural hospitals to retain patients in their communities while still providing access to the specialists and intensivists at Baptist Medical Center. This will reduce the cost of care to families, increase access to health care, and strengthen our rural communities.

EVIDENCE

Over the course of the COVID pandemic, INTEGRIS Health's internal transfer center recorded over 500 transfer requests for ICU level of care that could not be completed, most often due to the lack of space. Additionally, industry forecasts predict an 18% overall increase in the need for ICU level of care over the next 10 years.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

INTEGRIS Health and INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center accepted more COVID-19 patients during the pandemic than any other health system, at times caring for more than 300 patients with COVID-19 at once. INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center's highest-acuity offerings, including ECMO and transplant services, were often sought out by patients across the state and across the country. Because of Baptist Medical Center?s unique, high-acuity specialty services, it truly operated as a state surge facility, accepting patients from smaller hospitals across the state, especially rural communities. Patients needing the most challenging care, including patients with multiple comorbidities, patients requiring advanced cardiac care, transplants, ECMO services, or burn treatment seek out Baptist Medical Center?s care in their time of need. These patients were all especially impacted by the pandemic as they were more vulnerable to hospitalization after infection. INTEGRIS Health?s specialty services for COVID patients, especially our care coordination program for patients experiencing symptoms of ?long COVID? will continue to care for our vulnerable or impacted community members even after the end of the public health emergency. As a not-for-profit health system, INTEGRIS Health provides millions of dollars per year in charity care and treats patients regardless of their ability to pay.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

INTEGRIS Health has robust processes in place to collect, analyze, and respond to data trends in real time. During the construction of this project, regularly monitored data points will include project progress (on time), safety events at the construction site, and project cost (on budget). Upon completion, the INTEGRIS Health transfer center will monitor transfer requests received, accepted, and declined, with the goal of increasing accepted patient transfer requests. Additionally, the facility will continue to monitor patient safety, quality, and experience scores daily. The tele-ICU program will also track communities reached, patient outcomes, and total cost of care.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

One-time project will not need continued funding