How Mile Bluff Medical Center Cut Critical Code Activation Time to Seconds with Hypercare

A Rural Hospital with a Growing Challenge

Mile Bluff Medical Center, a 40-bed acute care hospital in rural Wisconsin, serves more than 55,000 residents across eight counties. Like many rural facilities, Mile Bluff operates with lean teams where clinicians often wear multiple hats, providing care across departments, shifts, and locations.

As the hospital evolved, introducing more clinical specialization and upgrading its infrastructure, its communication processes didn’t keep up. On-call schedules were buried in the intranet, coordination often depended on manual calls to the switchboard, and secure messaging across departments was virtually non-existent. Delays during critical moments became all too frequent, impacting patient outcomes. The mounting communication gaps left providers frustrated and contributed to rising staff burnout across the organization.

The Turning Point

Recognizing that their current system was no longer sustainable, Mile Bluff set out to find a better one that could match the urgency and complexity of modern clinical workflows.

This is when they chose to partner with Hypercare. Together, the teams focused on four foundational goals:

• Make on-call schedules accessible in real time, from any device.
• Enable one-click activation for urgent scenarios like emergency C-sections and unplanned endoscopies.
• Support secure, HIPAA-compliant communication between any team, anywhere.
• Remove the middlemen, eliminating unnecessary calls, overhead pages, and communication bottlenecks.

Following implementation, every provider had access to Hypercare, with real-time scheduling, messaging, and surgical activation workflows live across the organization. And just as important - the rollout wasn’t just tech-first, it was people-first. Training, change management, and close collaboration with frontline staff made the shift seamless and supported lasting adoption.

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The Results

Faster Activations with Fewer Delays

• Activation time for urgent and emergency surgeries dropped from 20–30 minutes to just 5 seconds.
• Over 70,000 secure messages were sent in the first six months.
• Nearly 150 providers are actively using Hypercare each month.
• Team members reported dramatic reductions in miscommunication and coordination delays.

Stronger Clinical Workflows

• Clinicians could instantly identify and contact the on-call team.
• OB teams coordinated both scheduled and emergency C-sections without disrupting clinic flow.
• Nurses and unit clerks activated teams directly, without waiting on hold or paging switchboards.
• Respiratory Therapists and nursing staff reported greater confidence and clarity during Code Blue activations.

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“The system eliminated scut work so we could focus on patients. We no longer waste time figuring out who to call - Hypercare tells us instantly.”

— Randall Brandt, PA & IT Provider Liaison, Mile Bluff Medical Center

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Why It Worked

Mile Bluff’s success came down to more than the right tool, it was about the right approach:

• On-site collaboration with Hypercare ensured the platform was tailored to real workflows.
• Change management prioritized clinician comfort, with clear policies and super-user support.
• Flexibility allowed the hospital to expand quickly from surgical activations to OB diversion and beyond.

And most importantly, staff felt empowered, not burdened by the change.

Mile Bluff’s journey proves that you don’t need to be a large academic hospital to lead digital transformation. Even small, rural facilities can elevate patient care and staff satisfaction with the right partner and platform.

Key Takeaways

• Small hospitals can leap forward with the right tools.
• Real-time communication reduces friction and improves clinical readiness.
• Co-creating with frontline teams ensures adoption and long-term impact.
  
  

What’s Next

Looking ahead, Mile Bluff plans to expand Hypercare to Code Blue, Rapid Response, and other critical activations. The team is also working on integrating Active Directory to automate contact updates, reducing manual work and communication breakdowns even further.

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“Hypercare gave us the confidence that when a Code Blue is called, the right people are notified instantly, and that changes everything.”

— Dr. Angela Gatzke-Plamann, Family Physician & Chief Medical Officer, Mile Bluff Medical Center

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