Preparing for the Return of Elective Surgery
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody could have envisioned a time that elective surgery would not be performed in the US. This has led to an extraordinary economic toll on the healthcare system and many patients awaiting their planned procedure, alongside surgeons and surgical services staff eagerly anticipating the opportunity to return to caring for those patients.
As parts of the country begin to emerge from the crisis, preparations are taking place to safely resume elective surgery. Leaders in surgical services are now presented with what is perhaps one of the most unique opportunities in modern healthcare to take an introspective look at the processes in their hospitals.
The loss of surgical revenue has created significant financial hardships for hospitals and there will continue to be an even greater emphasis on resource stewardship and reducing avoidable costs. There is also an unprecedented opportunity to improve operational efficiencies so that the system is able to support the resurgence of surgical volume in a manner that preserves patient safety and quality of care.
OpFlow is cognizant of both aspects of that equation and we have leveraged our expertise in surgical instrument management to design a process that willhelp hospitals reduce costs while also generating efficiency gains that will sustain the resurgence of surgical volume.
We recognize the importance of timing this type of process in way that is sensitive to the needs and circumstance at your hospital. We have designed our value analysis program to be accomplished remotely, with data provided by a few standard reports. That minimizes any time needed of surgical services team members, while positioning the hospital to optimize the existing resource utilization as procedures resume.
With this approach, we can proactively conduct a substantial portion of our analytics-driven process remotely, reducing the need for an on-site presence while also minimizing any burden on your team.
All that is needed from your hospital to get started are several standard reports detailing your current instrument tray fleet contents and usage:
Most frequently used instrument tray types
Trays with highest instrument count/volume
Preference cards for commonly performed procedures
Our predictive modeling platform will then compare your instrument tray data to our optimized standard, enabling you to visualize the projected change and value that can be achieved:
Percentage instrument reduction for each tray
Categorization of reduction by instrument type
Reduction in number of trays needed per case
Cost avoidance on instrument re-purchase
Decreased annual sterile processing expense
Implementation of the OpFlow process also yields valuable operational efficiency gains:
Fewer instruments on trays reduces sterile processing time
Fewer trays per case decreases SPD backlog, reducing case scheduling constraints
Fewer instruments and trays shortens in-room set-up time
Once your hospital is in a position for on-site data collection, we can then perform validation of our proposed changes by collecting and running analytics on actual instrument usage by surgeons at your hospital. Our standard process includes a 6-month project with a proven reduction of at least 5,000 instruments from your ‘workhorse’ instrument trays. That equates to a 30-40% reduction in recurring annual sterile processing and instrument re-purchase expense.
OpFlow is waiving any fees for our virtual analysis and have consciously designed it in a way that requires a very limited amount of your time and resources.
We are confident that focusing on opportunities to reduce avoidable cost and improve efficiency in the operating room will yield benefits that perhaps would have otherwise gone unrecognized as we move forward in preparing for the resurgence of surgical case volume.