Healthcare costs in the US have increased exponentially in recent years. Surgical procedures are especially costly. Cost control without sacrificing high quality care is the ultimate goal for many surgical practices and payers. Alternative practices and payment models have been explored to meet this goal. Episode-based payments, more commonly known…

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Throughout the past year, you have likely drawn inspiration from someone on your team or an industry colleague. This person is always ready to help, makes your facility a better work environment, or goes the extra mile to ensure quality outcomes even when not asked to assist. Now is the…

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Widely known for her research on laser technology and for her legislative work advocating for smoke evacuation in the OR, Kay Ball, PhD, RN, CNOR, CMLSO, FAAN, a perioperative consultant and adjunct professor at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, sat down with OR Manager to discuss the role of education…

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ORs rebounding from the financial impact of COVID-19 are looking for ways to reduce expenses. With rising costs coming from all angles of the economy, some have adopted systemwide processes to reduce, streamline, and improve surgical instrumentation sets. Two major health systems, the Cleveland Clinic and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital…

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With inflation hitting yet another record-breaking high—9.1% at the time of publication—hospitals and health systems continue to contend with challenging supply chain disruptions that force leaders into a constant state of putting out fires. Supply chain issues are not new. But instead of having time to plan ahead and implement…

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Lynn Webb, PhD, assistant dean of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, shared an anecdote about unprofessional behavior with attendees of the recent OR Business Management Conference in San Antonio, Texas. A nurse reported that a surgeon was performing a transverse colon resection, and at the appropriate point, they…

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In 2021, Patient Safety in Surgery published the article, “Incidence and OR team awareness of near-miss and retained surgical sharps: A national survey on United States operating rooms,” from a nationwide survey with over 400 surgeons, anesthesiologists, OR nurses and surgical technologists on the frequency of lost and retained sharps.…

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The passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009 brought electronic health records (EHR) to the forefront, but the concept existed long before that. Larry Weed and Jan Schultz at the University of Vermont developed a preliminary system in the 1970s. In 2014,…

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