By using da Vinci robotic technologies and the data capabilities that come with it, health systems have found they can better inform their surgical service line decisions to improve finance and quality metrics.
Cedars-Sinai, a Los Angeles-based health system with more than 40 locations, has completed more than 12,400 robotic procedures since 2003 and has been able to improve patient care and reduce total cost of care.
Three hospital leaders from Cedars-Sinai recently spoke about how their health system grew its robotics surgery program in an April 14 webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Intuitive.
The leaders were:
- Harry Sax, MD, Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery
- Danny Shouhed, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery
- Alfonso Chicas, MSN, RN, Executive Director of Perioperative Services
Three key takeaways from their discussion:
1. Converting from open surgery to minimally invasive surgery has both financial benefits and quality benefits. Open surgeries can require longer hospital stays and more resources than minimally invasive procedures. At Cedars-Sinai, 17 percent of patients ended up in the ICU after an open colon surgery, compared to 2 percent who received minimally invasive colon surgery. Robotic-assisted surgery also led to much lower surgical site infection rates at the health system.
"If you do a procedure open, the patients tend to be longer in the hospital, using resources, than if you're able to do it minimally invasive. By using robotics technology, we're able to reduce the total cost of care, even if there's some upfront costs," Dr. Sax said. Participants were encouraged to do an in depth analysis of their potential open to MIS opportunity.
2. The keys to growing a robotics program are to invest in your own training, have a shared vision, collaborate with others and focus on education and mentorship.
"One thing I wish I had done more in my robotics training is to utilize the ecosystem that Intuitive offers. Attend the courses, attend the case observations," Dr. Shouhed said.
To create a shared vision, it's important to gain support from the administration, to measure and communicate value and to educate those around you. One of the best ways to utilize collaboration is to form a robotic surgery steering committee consisting of multidisciplinary hospital leaders and hold monthly meetings. Understanding the goals of each department can accelerate program growth and build a strong robotics team culture.
3. To create a culture of efficiency and operational success, the keys are to have leadership and surgeon alignment, OR staff buy-in, hands-on training and to celebrate success. Ensuring key members were included in the monthly committee meetings was crucial to Cedars-Sinai's robotic surgery program growth.
"It didn't make sense to me to leave out Intuitive, our key partner, who we knew had available resources and could really contribute to our program growth," Mr. Chicas said.
Finding expert clinicians to be resource leads was also key to boosting OR staff buy-in and support and building strong teams.
To view the full webinar, click here.