Total joint replacements contribute hefty profits to hospitals and healthcare systems. Once the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) starts reimbursing surgery centers—as is done for hospital outpatient surgery departments (HOPDs)—the competition between hospitals, HOPDs, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) will intensify. “Total joints are the hot ticket in…

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Multiple requests for new equipment and technology—usually from surgeons but also sometimes from staff—are not uncommon. As part of their due diligence, OR leaders must determine whether the return on investment (ROI) justifies the purchase. Doing ROI calculations systematically—and involving key stakeholders—can help ensure that the organization makes the best…

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Each year, more than 2.5 million adults in the US develop pressure ulcers, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). These lesions bring pain, risk for serious infection, and increased healthcare utilization. Data on the costs of treatment vary, but some estimates range between $37,800 and $70,000…

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A common strategy for managing OR utilization is block scheduling: Assigning surgical time to individual surgeons or surgeon groups based on their volume. But what sounds like a simple process is often complicated by the potential for dissatisfaction and reduced utilization. Yet done effectively, block scheduling can significantly boost the…

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Polls leading up to the midterm elections put healthcare as the top issue of concern among likely voters, with gun policy, Supreme Court nominees, the economy and jobs, and education right behind it. In a year fraught with an ever-widening chasm along party lines, there were distinctly different priorities among…

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Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) led the list of newer patient care models in use at hospitals that employ respondents to the 2018 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. A total of 42% of hospital-based OR leaders said ERAS had been or would soon be implemented in their facilities, down slightly from…

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Interest in the OR Business Management Conference has grown steadily in tandem with the number of proposals submitted each year. More than 400 individuals attended the conference in 2018, and they left with tools and strategies to implement in a variety of clinical settings upon their return. Feedback from attendees…

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Inefficiencies in surgical case scheduling can lead to large revenue losses. When leaders at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (SHMC) in Spokane, Washington, realized poor room utilization was the cause of more than $1 million in annual overtime costs, they knew that better planning was needed. “For every 60 minutes…

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