This article originally by Jo Quetsch, MA, RN on OR Manager. As COVID-19 cases escalate nationwide, health systems across the country are determining policies and procedures related to their resources, staffing, scheduling and more to prepare for anticipated patient surges.…
This article originally appeared in Oncology Practice Management by Jamie Bachman, Executive Director for Oncology Services, UCHealth, and Brian Shields, Manager of Performance Improvement, Oncology Service Line, UCHealth. COVID-19 is testing the medical community in unprecedented ways, and every specialty…
I think we can safely add “travel agent” to the list of anachronisms that have gradually receded from our collective consciousness. Along with pay phones, and at some point in the future, brick-and-mortar retail stores. One needn’t look far to…
As a perioperative business manager for over a decade, I’ve seen dozens of approaches and projects to improve operating room efficiency. No matter how you calculate your operating room utilization, if it’s less than 80% there’s room for improvement. Even…
Among today’s biggest trends are EHRs and business intelligence. We’re investing millions of dollars creating “data engines” that track patients throughout the continuum of care. In many ways it’s similar to the internet in its infancy — we’re building a…
It seems as if news about another hospital laying off workers–or worse, closing–hits the news everyday; at last count 21 hospitals stopped treating patients in 2016. Hospitals and healthcare systems across the country, including some of the largest, laid off…
Hat tip to Sharon O’Keefe, CEO of the University of Chicago Medical Center, for introducing the phrase “make your assets sweat” to our team, which inspired me to write this article. The Affordable Care Act, increased government regulations and rising healthcare…
One minute of utilized operating room (OR) time can be worth more than $70 in revenue and one minute of staffed OR time can cost $50 or more, making underutilized OR time a huge problem. Each year, roughly 51 million…
A common challenge with healthcare in general, and cancer care in particular, is the peaks and valleys in patient appointment scheduling, which often results in inefficient use of scarce and expensive resources, unpredictable wait times for patients and overtime hours…
Interoperability continues to be one of healthcare IT’s biggest trends in 2016 as the industry sees momentous forward movement. In fact, interoperability is not a new trend. It has been an important mission (and a challenge) for healthcare administrators for…
