SSM Health Increased Patient Volume by 18% Without Adding Infusion Chairs

SSM Health's infusion centers struggled with extremely busy morning rushes followed by slow afternoons, creating imbalanced nurse workloads and causing nurses to miss breaks. Efficiency and throughput were further hampered by major pharmacy bottlenecks and construction projects that constrained daily operations across multiple cancer centers.

LeanTaaS iQueue for Infusion Centers was implemented at four SSM cancer centers during two years of COVID-19 surges. The platform used AI-driven scheduling templates to redistribute appointments more evenly throughout the day and enabled SSM to shift patient appointments to nearby sites when construction forced chair closures at their Kisker clinic.

SSM Health achieved an 18% increase in patient volume without adding any infusion chairs, alongside a 44% decrease in chair wait time and a 25% decrease in drug wait time. Afternoon median chair utilization increased by 30%, and nurse satisfaction improved through more balanced workloads.

• AI scheduling can meaningfully grow patient capacity without capital investment in new chairs or facilities.
• Redistributing appointments away from morning peaks improves both patient experience (wait times) and staff wellbeing (balanced workloads, fewer missed breaks).
• Flexible AI scheduling templates provide operational resilience during disruptions such as construction or pandemic surges, enabling seamless patient redistribution across sites.