Brightshores Health System: Patient-Centred Emergency Department Solutions for Remote Hospitals

The Challenge: Managing Patient Flow in Remote Emergency Departments

Brightshores Health System operates six emergency departments across remote hospital sites. Delivering consistent, efficient care across these locations was a challenge:

• Automating and standardizing ED arrival and check-in processes.
• Capturing semi-private insurance details and enabling full EMR registrations for walk-in patients.
• Reducing the administrative workload so frontline staff could focus on patient care.

Brightshores needed scalable Emergency Department solutions that could support small, rural hospitals with limited IT resources while maintaining a consistent patient experience.

The Solution: Savience Unified ED Platform

Savience implemented a centralized patient flow platform for Brightshores’ six emergency departments. Each hospital shares the same infrastructure but sees only its own arrivals, ensuring both uniformity and site-specific control.

• Consistency: A single system across all sites, creating a standardised ED arrival process.
• Simplicity: “Plug-and-play” rollout — no local IT required once kiosks are installed.
• Integration: Seamless connection with Oracle Cerner, automatically updating FirstNet boards within each ED.

Live sites: Southampton, Wiarton, Markdale, and Meaford.


Next in line: Lions Head and Owen Sound.

Key Benefits for Brightshores

1. Faster, Smarter Emergency Departments

• Automated patient check-in and triage streamline arrivals.
• Staff can prioritise critical patients without delay.

2. Improved Patient Experience

• Kiosks provide a private, user-friendly check-in process.
• Clear instructions and wayfinding reduce patient stress and confusion.

3. Streamlined Staff Workflows

• Real-time dashboards and alerts keep staff fully informed.
• Data flows seamlessly into Cerner FirstNet for triage.
• Frontline staff spend less time on administration.

What’s Next for Brightshores?

Semi-Private Insurance Capture

• Patients review insurance statements directly at the kiosk.
• Electronic signature collected securely at check-in.
• Documents stored safely on Brightshores’ servers.

Full Registration at the Kiosk

• Savience’s patient matching service pulls demographics directly from the EMR.
• Patients confirm or update their details during check-in.
• Updated information flows back to the EMR and into FirstNet.

This shifts the administrative “heavy lifting” from staff to the kiosk, freeing clinicians to focus on patient care.

The Result: Scalable Emergency Department Solutions for Rural Hospitals

Brightshores now benefits from:

• Consistency across multiple EDs
• Improved patient flow and reduced delays
• Lower staff administrative burden
• An enhanced patient experience across both rural and urban sites

Brightshores says:
“Our kiosks are working well for our rural communities. As we continue to support these hospitals, we encourage them to share ideas for improving patient flow. Working with Savience, these ideas are quickly incorporated into the kiosk process – allowing hospitals to see their contributions brought to life.”