Transforming the ED Front Door: Why Acute Infection Decisions Are an Untapped Throughput Lever
Every capacity strategy eventually runs into the same wall: the ED front door. 18-28% of ED visits are driven by acute infection, and when clinicians lack confident, early information about patient severity, the default is caution — monitored beds fill, flow stalls, and capacity evaporates downstream.
For health system leaders, this is an operations and financial problem as much as a clinical one. The good news: it's solvable without construction, hiring, or process overhaul. In this session, leaders from USA Health share how implementing TriVerity — a host immune response diagnostic — transformed how their emergency department triages and dispositions acute infection patients.
The results: bed days avoided, admissions redirected to appropriate levels of care, and DRGs captured that were previously left on the table. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the clinical mechanism, the operational impact, and a practical implementation roadmap.
Key Learnings & Speakers
KEY LEARNINGS
1. Why acute infection volume is a throughput and capacity problem — not just a clinical one
2. How host immune response testing enables faster, more confident disposition decisions
3. Real-world outcomes from a leading health system: bed days avoided, admissions redirected, and DRGs captured
4. How health systems can integrate emerging diagnostic technology into existing workflows without added staff or construction
SPEAKERS
• Edward A. Panacek, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of South Alabama
• Lukas Chandler, PhD, Project Manager, The Health Management Academy