Optimize Hospitalist Assignments.
Create balanced workloads by automatically factoring in census counts, patient acuity, geographic locations, and continuity of care requirements.
Automated Patient Assignments
Automate hospital rounding list creation to streamline staffing, balance workloads, and improve patient care.
The Hidden Costs of Manual Patient Assignment
Patient assignment is a deceptively complex process. Balancing patient loads, matching acuity to skill sets, honoring continuity, and ensuring fair distribution across hospitalists - all while updating assignments in real time - pushes manual workflows to their breaking point.
Too often, organizations still rely on spreadsheets, printouts, or whiteboards to manage their hospital rounding lists. This not only consumes valuable administrative time but also increases the risk of uneven assignments, missed patients, provider burnout and communication breakdowns.
A strong reconciliation process helps your organization:
Shifting to automated patient assignment dramatically improves how hospitals and practices manage daily care team workloads.
Automating this process can help you:
Streamline the Hospital Rounding List Process.
Ensure up-to-date, accurate lists that hospitalists and nurses can trust, reducing errors and saving countless hours of manual updates.
Enhance Patient Experience & Safety.
Consistent, fair assignments help maintain provider continuity and support quality outcomes.
Before & After: The Impact of Automating Patient Assignment
Manual Process
Automated Process
Hospital Rounding List
Always current, dynamically updated as patients are admitted, transferred, or discharged.
Provider Workloads
Automatically balanced based on census, acuity, geography, and continuity rules.
Continuity of Care
Built-in logic prioritizes continuity while still distributing workload fairly.
Administrative Time
1–2 hours daily spent organizing, checking, and adjusting assignments.
Minutes. Automated processes generate fair assignments instantly, freeing up staff for other tasks.
Change Management
Real-time updates instantly adjust assignments and rounding lists, improving clarity.
See It in Action: Success Stories in Automated Patient Assignment
Northwell Health
Rolled out an automated patient assignment platform across multiple sites, reducing administrative work while ensuring balanced, fair hospitalist assignments.
Valley Assign Case Study
Since using Assign they’ve cut their morning assignments process from 2.5 hours to no more than 30 minutes each morning, in turn saving 2 hours daily.
FAQs About Automating Patient Assignment
What is an automated patient assignment process?
It’s a system that uses configurable rules to distribute patient loads among providers (hospitalists, nurses, or other teams) while factoring in real-time census, patient locations, acuity, continuity and more.
Why do so many hospitals still manage patient assignments manually?
Many underestimate the complexity. From balancing provider loads to maintaining continuity, it’s much more than creating a list. For a deeper dive, read Why Healthcare Organizations Believe Patient Assignment is So Complex.
How does automation improve hospital rounding lists?
Instead of static, manually-updated lists, teams get dynamic, always-current rounding lists that reflect real-time admissions, discharges, and transfers.
Why does patient assignment need its own specialized software?
Because even sophisticated EHRs often fall short when it comes to balancing loads, managing continuity, and providing real-time updates. Learn more in Why Patient Assignment Deserves Its Own Software.
Are there more resources on the benefits of automating patient assignment?
Yes – see our roundup in Top 5 Articles on Automating Your Daily Patient Assignment Process.
Who benefits most - hospitalists or nurses?
Both. Automated patient assignment equally improves hospitalist assignments and nursing assignments, reducing manual work and building fairness into daily operations.
What’s Next?
Automating your patient assignment process isn’t just about operational efficiency – it’s about supporting care teams, improving patient continuity, and building trust in your staffing models.
If you’re ready to see how automation can elevate your hospital rounding lists and assignment workflows, explore our Assign solution.
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