Optimizing operating room (OR) efficiency is a persistent challenge for health systems, many of which are hamstrung by outdated block management practices and lack of real-time data and insights.
During a March Becker’s Hospital Review webinar sponsored by LeanTaaS, Kevin Streeter, MBA, MS, RN, FACHE, system executive director of operations at Providence, discussed how the Renton, Wash.-based nonprofit health system deployed data-driven strategies to overhaul its OR management system and capture over 6,000 incremental surgical cases.
Three key insights were:
- For years, Providence had struggled with improving its OR access and utilization. The organization was fully aware that it had an OR capacity problem and initially tried to address it using traditional approaches. Steps in this traditional approach included setting up an executive steering committee, building a best-practice perioperative governance framework, implementing standardized KPIs and streamlining pre- and post-operative workflows.
However, the gains from these efforts were small and did not solve Providence’s OR access and utilization problems. Providence realized it needed better tools to manage the complexities of capacity optimization.
- The health system sought a solution to reduce abandoned block time and increase proactive block releases. These inefficiencies existed because some surgeons were holding on to more OR block time than they needed, which created the perception of an OR time shortage. Yet, the organization did not have a way to visualize this “time hoarding” since its legacy dashboards did not track OR block utilization in real time. The health system also lacked a single source of truth for other types of data relevant to optimizing OR utilization by matching supply and demand.
“In the surgical world, demand can fluctuate day by day but the supply of OR time is fixed,” Mr. Streeter said. “The key is to make sure our supply of OR capacity is always aligned with our demand.”
- By implementing iQueue for Operating Rooms, Providence increased surgical volume and reduced abandoned block time in under a year. The health system identified LeanTaaS as the ideal partner that could provide the right technology, know-how and support for its OR capacity expansion initiative. The two organizations started working together in October 2023.
In the span of just 10 months, the partnership — which harnessed the power of AI, machine learning, data-driven insights and predictive recommendations embedded in LeanTaaS’ iQueue for Operating Rooms solution, plus dedicated change management services — led to a 34% decrease in abandoned block time, a 114% increase of proactive block releases (now happening on average 28 days before the date of the block) and a 5% increase in OR block utilization.
The bottom line? Providence’s partnership with LeanTaaS is multi-phase and is still in its early adoption stages. However, the health system, which serves millions of patients across seven states, has already captured over 6,000 incremental surgical cases and realized a 5.6x return on its investment. “We expect those numbers to rise significantly,” Mr. Streeter said.
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