Measuring Perioperative Key Performance Indicators
CCI Anesthesia is not your average anesthesia management service provider. We don’t just focus on modernizing the anesthesia service—we also bring cutting-edge systems to help update our clients’ entire perioperative service lines. One way we do this is by monitoring and measuring perioperative key performance indicators (KPIs), sharing the data with our clients and making informed decisions—rooted in high-quality metrics—that save our clients time and money.
Modernizing Perioperative Services
We are committed to staying at the forefront of technological innovation to help increase efficiency, improve revenue capture and reduce costs. As part of this commitment, we use Merlin’s web-based perioperative metrics system to measure productivity. The proprietary Merlin system provides critical KPIs that help our clients take control of their perioperative services by leveraging data and analytics to maximize performance. The KPIs reported through Merlin include:
- Surgical volume — a measurement of daily caseloads (number of surgeries) and times. Analyzing this metric helps to show growth patterns.
- First case on-time starts — a measurement of the percentage of the day’s first cases that start on time. It is typically defined as the patient being in the OR at the scheduled start time. Most facilities allow for a 15-minute grace period. This is an important metric to keep the OR running smoothly all day.
- Turnover times — optimal turnover times prevent variability among surgeons or services. Poor turnover times can be caused when there is inefficient central processing of instruments or when the nursing, environmental services (housekeeping) and anesthesia teams are not working in tandem.
- Scheduling lead times.
- Prime time facility utilization — a measurement of the frequency of usage for the ORs.
- Surgeon day of week utilization — an even level of usage each day prevents large, open periods of non-utilization. In most hospitals, the goal is to have each OR in use 75-80% of the time. This allows the OR scheduler to add emergency cases as needed.
- Productivity of OR utilization by day and hour to optimize performance and throughput.
Other Data Points to Capture and Analyze
At CCI Anesthesia, our practice management teams monitor operational efficiency in real-time through our tablet-based EMR system while our clinical informatics team maintains a constant watch on quality metrics. The result for our clients is reduced costs, increased efficiency, improved quality and better clinical outcomes. We collect, at minimum, the following data through our EMR system while always tailoring it to align with the unique data capture goals of our clients:
- Patient identifiers
- Patient demographics
- Diagnoses
- Medications
- Procedure records
- Vital signs
We also collect intraoperative/procedural anesthesia data that includes physiologic monitoring data, medications and intravenous fluids administered, techniques used, patient positioning, additional procedures performed, unusual or noteworthy events and patient status at the transfer of care to staff in a Post-Anesthesia Care Unit. Analyzing these data points and applying changes can help not only OR and administrative performance but also patient outcomes.
The Power of Data-Driven Decision-Making
Data is an incredibly valuable asset, especially when making informed decisions and achieving stakeholder buy-in for change. Examining data at least quarterly allows for the correction of oversights in a timely fashion. It also spotlights areas that need focused performance improvements. Over the years, we have learned that making calculated operational changes based on perioperative KPIs and other metrics always leads to better outcomes than basing decisions on feelings and guesses. Our clinical and operational teams work in tandem to implement data capture for our clients and will remain vigilant in monitoring and reporting data routinely or as requested. To get started, call us at 800-494-3948.