Abstract: A method for managing admission of patients into one of a plurality of intensive care units in a hospital network includes classifying a patient arriving at a first intensive care unit as one of an external emergency patient, an internal emergency patient, and an elective patient; and determining whether to admit the patient to the intensive care units in the hospital network based on the classification. An external emergency patient is admitted to the first intensive care unit if a vacancy in the first intensive care unit is above a first threshold. An internal emergency patient is admitted to the first intensive care unit if the first intensive care unit has vacancy. An elective patient is admitted to the first intensive care unit if a vacancy in the first intensive care unit is above a second threshold. The first and second thresholds are independent of patient classification.