GNYHA is announcing the next iteration of the Sit Stat Situational Awareness Platform. Sit Stat 3.0 expands the existing functionality of Sit Stat 2.0 to include the ability to integrate with facility or health system bed management systems, enabling the automated flow of bed occupancy and availability data.
As the next critical phase of this statewide information sharing and situational awareness platform, GNYHA is addressing concerns related to data collection burden, data reliability, and moving the hospital community away from manual data entry toward automated data integration. Sit Stat 3.0 is available to all New York State members at no cost. Interested members are encouraged to enroll by May 1, 2021.
Below is additional information about GNYHA’s Sit Stat System, the launch of Sit Stat 3.0, and the enrollment process. Members are also encouraged to review the Sit Stat Overview Document, the Integration Program Project Description, Sit Stat 3.0 Data Governance Guidelines, and Integration Program Enrollment Form. GNYHA is hosting an informational webinar on March 11, 2021 to share further project details. Registration information can be found below.
Sit Stat 2.0 Background
In 2017, GNYHA made a free, comprehensive web-based information sharing and situational awareness platform available to all New York State members. Designed to enhance preparedness and response capabilities at the facility, health system, and regional level, Sit Stat 2.0 is currently used by 115 hospitals and numerous New York City and New York State response agencies. Participating users have access to static facility-level information and dynamic information collected during emergency events. Access to this shared platform informs and enhances planning, coordination, and collaboration. Frequent enhancements to the platform, guided by the Sit Stat Advisory Council, have increased the system’s value and utility over time.
Supporting Emergency Response
Sit Stat is designed to support members before, during, and after emergencies, collecting and displaying information on current and anticipated impacts and needs. GNYHA has developed standardized surveys for a variety of hazards including heat and winter weather events, coastal storms, mass casualty incidents (MCIs), and most recently infectious disease outbreaks. Data elements focus on hospital impacts, operations, and bed census and availability. In late 2019, the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) began using Sit Stat to notify 911-receiving hospitals in the New York City system of MCIs in the vicinity of their facility, improving what had been a phone-based process.
Innovations During the COVID-19 Response
Throughout the COVID-19 response, Sit Stat has been a critical operational tool, housing information to support regional load-balancing, discharge operations, alternate care site tracking, and fatality management coordination. During the spring 2020 wave, GNYHA collected key data on facility operations and impacts, and made visible COVID-19 hospitalization and hospital bed availability data collected via the State’s HERDS system.
In November, based on lessons learned during the first wave, GNYHA added a twice-daily Hospital Surge Indicator and other operational questions. These were developed to provide the hospital community, response agencies, and decision-makers with a more complete picture of hospital surge operations, complementing HERDS data related to current hospitalizations and available beds.
2020 Pilot Project and Membership-Wide Expansion
Concerns about data collection burden, data quality, and data reliability have permeated the COVID-19 response in New York and elsewhere. Understanding these frustrations and the longstanding desire to move away from manual data entry and toward automated data integration, GNYHA launched the Bed Occupancy Data Automation Pilot Project last fall. This proof-of-concept project integrates hospital bed management systems with the Sit Stat platform, using previously developed and tested standardized bed definitions.
Based on the early successes of the pilot, GNYHA is supporting the expansion of this program to all NYS members with the launch of Sit Stat 3.0 which brings together data integration technology, standardized bed definitions, and governance standards around data access, use, and visibility developed during the pilot phase.
Getting Started
Facilities interested in participating in Sit Stat 3.0 integration program are encouraged to review the Sit Stat Overview Document, the Integration Program Project Description, and then submit an Integration Program Enrollment Form.