10 ways to strengthen hospital length of stay management: reduce inpatient census, improve patient experience
Hospital length of stay (LOS) management has become a major priority for healthcare leaders. While reimbursement requirements are a major driver of this focus, reducing length of stay can also decrease hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), which are subject to payment reductions of their own. Efforts to reduce LOS have led to a flurry of research into […]
National Nurses Week: In Conversation with LeanTaaS RNs
To celebrate and honor National Nurses Week, LeanTaaS RNs recently came together to share their experiences in the nursing field. Read on to learn more about their career journeys, perspectives, patient stories, and how their knowledge and passion of nursing has helped inform their work at LeanTaaS. Why did you decide to become a nurse? How […]
Why focus on operating room prime time utilization: a metric for better use of OR time
Many operating rooms (ORs) rely on surgical block time utilization as a key operational metric, and they are not incorrect to do so. Block utilization is an important measure of the overall health of OR time distribution and allocation, and of operating room utilization as a whole. Block time utilization is so broad, however, that […]
Beyond surgical block time utilization: a holistic approach to optimizing the OR
The primary constraint to the timely delivery of patient care is access to often-scarce resources, and fewer resources are more scarce than operating room (OR) time. Available OR time is often in short supply, and the consistently unpredictable demand for it compounds the challenge of allocating and utilizing it optimally. Traditional means of measuring the […]
Becker’s 12th Annual Meeting – highlighting health system capacity management success
On April 26, 2022, as part of the upcoming Becker’s Hospital Review 12th Annual Meeting, LeanTaaS will present a special half-day Transform event. Our experts will partner with health system leaders to discuss the inroads we have made in optimizing capacity during a time when expanding healthcare access with minimal cost is especially critical. The event […]
UCHealth’s new success in directing patient flow, part 2: on the move – knowing when to transfer patients
The first part of this series, which discussed hospitals’ underlying challenges in bed management and directing patient flow, and how UCHealth equipped staff to solve delayed inpatient admissions, is available here. As concluded in the previous post, directing patient flow throughout the hospital in a timely manner is a complex process. Ensuring the right beds are available for […]
UCHealth’s new success in directing patient flow, part 1: a data-driven approach to hospital bed management
In many hospitals, the ongoing inability to place the right patients in the right bed at the right time is both a burden and source of frustration for clinicians and staff. Patients are impacted by barriers to inpatient beds as well. Along with their families, they grow tired waiting hours when it comes to admissions, […]
Three powerful ways to improve operating room utilization
No matter how they calculate it, there’s room for perioperative departments to improve operating room utilization if it’s less than 80%. Surgical leaders might be happy with their utilization as a metric, but there are always more problems to solve. These may include new surgeons not being able to get block time, surgical block owners […]
Using an innovative approach to address critical staffing challenges in operating rooms (Becker’s Hospital Review)
Originally published in Becker’s Hospital Review in February 2022. Reports from the front lines of hospital perioperative departments show a daily, ongoing staffing crisis. Short-handed nurses and other personnel are strained to handle the unpredictable capacity demands of their service lines. These critical shortages of both contracted and full-time staff are driving a cycle that increases costs […]
Helping bed staff achieve more: five goals to optimize capacity and direct inpatient flow
This article was originally published on Becker’s Hospital Review in February 2022. Severe staff shortages, new COVID variants, and unpredictable surges are making it critical for hospitals to optimize inpatient capacity. The short-handed staff who are responsible for capacity decisions must be fully equipped to direct patient flow safely, quickly, and to the best possible use of […]