Improving Your Operating Room Performance
As an administrator, you know how important the performance of your operating rooms is to your bottom line. Considering that surgical admissions bring in 48% of hospital revenue on average and the fact that a general surgeon alone generates more than $2M in annual average net revenue, you want your operating rooms performing flawlessly. When your anesthesia services are managed by CCI Anesthesia, you no longer have to worry about anesthesia being a drain on your productivity. Allow us to shed some light on how we can help improve your operating room performance.
How Anesthesia Can Help Reduce Turnover Time
If your anesthesia department is routinely being blamed for inefficient operating room turnovers rather than being praised for supporting fast turnovers, it is time to consider a change in your anesthesia services. There are many strategies anesthesia providers can take to reduce turnover times and CCI Anesthesia providers know every trick of the trade. For example, if your providers are able to use opioid-sparing techniques for certain anesthetics, such as pre-emptive analgesia, turnover times may be decreased. Another consideration is your staffing model—if it requires staggered starts for the first cases of the day for your anesthesiologist to be present at inductions, you might consider a larger supervision ratio. There are countless other ways your anesthesia department can help reduce operating room turnover time.
Reveal Inefficiencies Through Data Analysis
Data capture is increasingly important in operating room management. From an anesthesia perspective, we study our billing data to reveal gaps or inefficiencies in scheduling or staffing models. From an administrative perspective, data analysis can lead to a reduction in supply costs or shortages. A digital inventory management system can significantly reduce costs and allow more time for clinicians to focus on patients. Rather than wasting time on costly workarounds, your clinicians should have their workflow supported by a reliable supply chain and well-stocked inventory.
Patient-centered data is also critical in pinpointing inefficiencies and providing a starting point for improvements. An analysis of case volume by specialty for each month of the year over a 12-month period can reveal what inventory levels should be by month and season. You can also dissect the cost per case by specialty and then review managed care payor contracts to determine if the cost per case is actually being covered. There are millions of data points that can be collected as it relates to your operating rooms. Ultimately, measuring the correct metrics is the key to diagnosing problems.
Working Together Across Departments for Better Outcomes
At CCI Anesthesia, our providers are team players. Surgeon satisfaction is among our highest priorities, but we also find tremendous value in interdepartmental satisfaction. This means that we strive to work together with admissions, pre-op, PACU or any other department that is influenced or affected by anesthesia. As your partner, our leaders will serve on any applicable hospital committees and collaborate with other hospital leaders to support quality outcomes and operating room efficiencies.
Consistent Communication is Key
Our leaders will hold routine meetings with operating room directors or administrators to help forecast potential issues or supply shortages. We additionally want to provide an opportunity for leaders of other departments to be able to voice any unlikely shortcomings of the anesthesia department so that we can rapidly address them. Too many operating room inefficiencies go unchecked due to a lack of communication. It is our goal to keep communication lines open—from the anesthesia department, to other departments and administration—to foster a culture of teamwork and shared success.
For more information about how your anesthesia department can help improve operating room turnover rates and efficiencies, give us a call at 800.494.3948. With a few details about your facility and unique situation, we can provide insight that will certainly improve your bottom line.