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Oregon Health Authority

Oregon Capacity System (OCS) Information

Welcome to the Oregon Capacity System (OCS) Information Page

In 2023, we are transitioning the state's Hospital Capacity System (HOSCAP) to a new platform, the Oregon Capacity System (OCS). This transition has been in the works since the beginning of 2020 when having easy to understand, accurate, actionable health care capacity information was critical for our collective COVID-19 response.

This page is structured to inform end-users of important dates, significant changes to prepare for, and useful materials and videos to access regarding the new platform. 


What is the Oregon Capacity System?

  • The Oregon Capacity System is a new statewide command center software solution for hospital capacity and critical resource management developed by GE Healthcare and Apprise Health Insights.
  • This system pulls data directly from the electronic medical records (EMR) of every hospital in Oregon and feeds it into the Oregon State Capacity System, all fully automated in near real-time while ensuring patient privacy is appropriately protected. 
  • Information is then made available to all participating organizations via a website which is easily accessible from any device or projected on a screen and refreshed every five minutes. 


OCS Help Desk?
Feel free to submit questions about access, functionality, technical issues, etc. A member of the Apprise team will review and quickly reach out with a solution or next step.  Below is the link for your use - make sure to bookmark it.


Ongoing Training?
As a reminder, our training materials are available online.  Take your time to get acquainted with OCS and its functionality.  This information will be updated frequently and is subject to change based on the updates to OCS.  For more information,

  • Contact: helene.anderson@apprisehealthinsights.com

HOSCAP IS BECOMING OCS on March 31, 2023


Do you need access to the system?

Do you need access to the system? If you are a hospital staff user, member of the EMS/911 community, or employee of a county or the state, please fill out the following form to request an account to the OCS system. This access will be temporary until the formal switch to OCS in 2023.  This is not a publicly-available website as it is for hospital operations and patient movement.  You can view publicly available trend date from OCS here:


FAQ:

How is the Oregon Capacity System an improvement on previous capacity tracking systems?

  • Prior to the pilot project that began in March 2020, hospitals in Oregon, like every other state, tracked and reported capacity information manually, retroactively, and individually, resulting in outdated reports and potentially week-old data. 
  • By pulling data directly from the EMR, the OCS removes the need to manually track and enter capacity information. It also tracks data in near near-time. Staff who have used the system say it provides them with more accurate information (than working without it) on bed capacity across hospitals. 

What about personal health information or PHI, how does the Oregon Capacity System address this concern?

  • The OCS circumvents concerns around privacy by removing sensitive data before collection. No patient names, no identifiable information ever enters the system or leaves the hospital. 

Who makes operating decisions about OCS?

As an offering of Apprise Health Insights, the OCS is governed by a committee of the Apprise Board of Directors.  The Governance Committee is comprised of hospital representatives of each of the state's regional referral hospitals as outlined by OHA.  In addition, 2 representatives of the EMS community and members of OHA serve on this governance committee.  


Who is Apprise Health Insights?

Apprise Health Insights has been a data partner with the Oregon Health Authority for more than 15 years. Apprise is the data subsidiary of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The development of the OCS, in partnership with GE Healthcare, is only one of several data projects we support for the OHA. Apprise is also responsible for all of the mandatory state reporting for hospitals which includes monthly financial and utilization reporting as well as quarterly discharge data. This data includes all inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department discharge data for Oregon’s 62 acute care hospitals. In addition, the development of the OCS was funded, in part, by a federal grant provided to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems through the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness Response’s office, which is part of HHS.