March 2026 HCMC President’s Message

HCMC Presidential Column

I am a huge fan of movie theaters and the movies they show. The feeling of purchasing a ticket as if entering an event, the taste of buttered popcorn chased by Sno Caps, the reverberating sound system latching on to an original score, the visual feast of high-definition computer generated graphics, getting lost in a story for two hours – what’s not to love?

So I felt a little inspired the other day when, during a systemwide throughput committee meeting, I invited the attendees to a “watch party” for the latest webinar, Unlocking Inpatient Capacity: Proven Strategies to Reduce ED Boarding and Accelerate Throughput delivered by Susan Grimwood, DNP, of Sarasota Memorial Hospital. More than 20 people RSVP’d to two locations in our system! I stocked up on seven varieties of MotorCity Popcorn and other healthy snacks and dimmed the lights in our boardroom with 15 of my fellow capacity geeks, setting the perfect atmosphere for an hourlong learning fest. While there were no car chases or plot twists, the participants slid questions to me to ask the presenter, which I typed into the chat. 
After the “show” was over, we discussed the ideas that were expertly shared and how they could be implemented in our system. The participants toured our center in Detroit before heading back to their sites, encouraged to try some of the ideas. I later connected three of the watch partygoers to Susan so they could further explore ideas presented. One of the invitees is now registering to attend the very first in person Hospital Capacity Management Leadership Forum July 11-12 in Denver.

The monthly webinars are just one way that the Hospital Capacity Management Consortium (HCMC) is answering the needs of our members. Drawing on the collective expertise of our HCMC members, volunteers on our Learning and Professional Development Committee designed a list of topics not only for directors like me but also for other roles that participate in the team sport known as capacity management. Upcoming topics include physician engagement to advance throughput and length of stay performance, virtual nursing, cool tools, workflows and processes. The presenters are outstanding as they bravely share their experiences and knowledge in this newly developing frontier of hospital capacity management, always leaving time to answer questions and engage in discussion.

The partygoers from my Henry Ford team have given the event five stars. From now on, I am sharing the list of presentations at each of our meetings with an open invitation to all of them to join us on our leaning journey. And I will be bringing the popcorn.
 

Jill Sklar, MBA

Director, System Capacity Command Center, Henry Ford Health, Detroit