At Val Verde Regional Medical Center, our mission is to provide safe, timely, and compassionate care for every patient who comes through our doors. Like many rural hospitals, we balance limited resources with high community demand, and that requires creative thinking and smarter ways of working. For us, the key has been data.
Over the past year, our organization has embraced data analytics to drive change. Dashboards and real-time reports are now embedded in our workflows, helping staff make decisions that improve both the patient experience and operational efficiency. What began as a project focused on our Emergency Department (ED) has now grown into a hospital-wide effort that is transforming how we deliver care.
Tackling emergency department bottlenecks
The ED is the heartbeat of any hospital—and one of the most complex to manage. Patient volume fluctuates dramatically, acuity levels vary widely, and staffing must be adjusted on the fly. Previously, many patients would spend long stretches waiting in the ED lobby. Staff sometimes held open rooms “just in case” a trauma or higher-acuity case arrived, which meant patients with lower acuity waited longer than necessary. We knew this model wasn’t working—for our patients or for staff.
That’s when we launched our “pull-to-full” initiative, supported by Business and Clinical Analytics (BCA) dashboards. The initiative follows one core principle: never leave a treatment room vacant. Once triaged, patients are placed directly into available rooms, regardless of acuity level. This shift keeps patient flow moving, reduces wait times, and ensures that no resource sits unused.
The ED hourly census dashboard, refreshed every five minutes and sent to staff via email every two hours, is central to this approach. It provides real-time visibility into patient arrivals, room occupancy, and bottlenecks. With this data, our ED leaders can spot issues early—such as blocked rooms or extended wait times—and make quick adjustments.
Leveraging these dashboards has delivered a significant impact. Patient satisfaction scores in the ED have improved, and survey feedback shows patients appreciate being seen and placed more quickly. Our quality and risk teams continuously evaluate these metrics, but the results confirm what we believed all along: data-driven workflow redesign leads to better experiences for patients.
Using data to drive leadership decisions
Analytics are not just an operational tool; they’re guiding leadership strategy at the highest level.
For example, our CEO regularly reviews the real-time census dashboard to stay informed about hospital activity. This visibility empowers senior leaders to make proactive decisions, from staffing adjustments to planning for high-volume days.
One of the best examples of data shaping strategy has been the launch of our convenient care clinic. This after-hours service was designed to reduce ED crowding by providing a dedicated option for patients with low-acuity needs such as colds, flu, and minor injuries. Comparing patient flow across care settings has revealed peak demand times and allowed us to appropriately align staff scheduling. Instead of relying on anecdotal feedback, which can vary depending on its source, leadership decisions are backed by hard data.
Expanding dashboards across the hospital
The success of ED dashboards has sparked demand across the organization. Other departments—including ICU, med-surg, and ambulatory clinics—are now asking for similar tools tailored to their needs.
ICU dashboards are being developed to monitor census and track patients on ventilators, central lines, or catheters—data that not only supports care, but also fulfills infection-prevention reporting requirements. Ambulatory dashboards help monitor provider workloads across nine clinic locations. These reports are delivered twice daily: in the morning to show scheduled patients, and again in the afternoon to identify open slots. This allows staff to pull patients forward from future dates, reducing wait times and maximizing provider efficiency.
Automating required reporting
While dashboards have already improved daily operations, our next priority is to automate government-required reporting. Currently, some reports—such as those tracking flu, COVID, and RSV admissions—require manual counts, which are time-consuming and prone to error. Once automated, these reports will not only reduce staff burden (giving them more time to provide patient care), but also provide leadership with more accurate, up-to-date insights.
Building a culture of data-driven care
Perhaps the most important outcome of our analytics journey has been cultural. At Val Verde, data is no longer something pulled for audits or end-of-month reports. It’s a daily tool that shapes decisions, supports staff, and improves patient outcomes. When senior leaders consider opening a new clinic or adding staff, the first question isn’t “Do we feel busy?”—it’s “What does the data show?” That mindset shift ensures that every choice we make is grounded in evidence.
As a rural hospital, our community depends on us to provide high-quality care close to home. By embedding analytics into our operations, we’ve created a more responsive, efficient, and patient-centered system—one that is better prepared to meet the needs of our patients today and in the future.
At Val Verde, we believe that data isn’t just numbers—it’s a pathway to better care. By combining innovative tools with a commitment to our patients, we’re proving that a small hospital can achieve big results when it embraces data-driven care.
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