Survey Reveals 78% of Healthcare Executives Prioritizing Perioperative Cost Reduction Efforts

ATLANTA, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- An annual survey of hospital executives highlights the increased importance of reducing costs in the perioperative department.  Seventy-eight percent of the survey's respondents are considering or planning projects to reduce perioperative costs in the next year, a 34% increase in OR cost reduction projects since 2010.  Twenty-five percent of hospitals in 2010 cited maximizing reimbursements as their top financial concern.  In 2011, that number dropped by 56%.  Top cited cost reduction projects focus on reducing costs of supplies, implants and tissues, standardizing supplies, and reducing waste.

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In a clear shift from last year, hospitals are prioritizing cost reduction efforts over reimbursement concerns.  Healthcare Financial Management Association President and CEO, Richard L. Clarke, adds, "The payment reductions facing providers over the next 10 years require healthcare finance leaders to move beyond cost containment strategies.  Instead, organizations need to improve efficiency by removing waste and duplication within the delivery system.  HFMA found through its Value Project research with leading healthcare systems that successful organizations rely on four key capabilities to do this.  These efforts are built on an accountable culture which empowers staff to improve value.  Staff efforts to improve value are supported by a performance improvement infrastructure that relies on sophisticated clinical and financial business intelligence.  The final piece, and it's one that's evolving, is the contract and risk management capability necessary to transition from fee-for-service to value based reimbursement."

Many healthcare executives indicate the OR, the financial engine of the hospital, as a key area of focus for immediate cost containment and IT investment in order to meet ongoing changes in reimbursements.  The annual survey sponsored by Surgical Information Systems of Alpharetta, GA cites Financial performance and Quality of patient care as the top two work concerns for executives.  These concerns have consistently been two of the top three work concerns of healthcare executives since SIS first conducted the survey in 2008.

Survey results indicate the continued growth in the importance of optimizing perioperative performance with 99% of respondents reporting that the success of the perioperative department is either Extremely Important or Important to the success of the hospital.  This metric has increased by 7.6% in just the last year.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents are planning or considering perioperative enhancements with increasing surgical volumes and investing in capital equipment and IT solutions leading the list of projects.  Fifty-nine percent of respondents rank the perioperative department as a High or Extremely High priority for investing in new IT solutions with Meaningful Use requirements cited as a leading driver of IT adoption.

By utilizing perioperative information systems, including perioperative-specific analytics, hospitals can optimize the delivery of perioperative services and implement cost control strategies.  Perioperative analytics provide actionable intelligence to support clinical, operational and financial improvement initiatives, offering a window into key business indicators such as capacity, case costs, supply  costs, OR utilization, and block utilization.  This information gives hospital leadership, management, and providers the ability to view data and develop action plans to improve operating room processes. This allows hospital administrators to recognize the cost variance between services and surgeons in order to have a clearer picture of what the cost impact of a change could create.

"The ability to continuously have actionable data in the OR, where about half of a hospital's costs live, has been of a significant advantage to hospitals using perioperative analytics.  It allows them to improve financial performance as well as improve clinical and operational efficiencies," said SIS CEO, Ed Daihl.  "One client in particular was able to reduce their average cost per case by about 40%.  That translated into an annual cost savings of over $160,000 for one procedure alone."

About the Survey

SIS annually surveys healthcare leadership and of the 82 hospital executives, representing 70 hospitals, surveyed the majority (78%) were CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CIOs, CNOs and Chief of Anesthesiology.  Twenty-two percent were other hospital leaders.

About SIS

Surgical Information Systems ("SIS") provides software solutions that are uniquely designed to add value at every point of the perioperative process.  Developed specifically for the complex surgical environment, all SIS solutions – including anesthesia – are architected on a single database and integrate easily with other hospital systems.  SIS offers the only surgical scheduling system and the only anesthesia information management system endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and a rules-based charging system that has been granted Peer Reviewed status by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).  SIS is also the first AIMS provider to be designated as an AQI Preferred Vendor by the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI).

For more information visit our website, www.SISFirst.com.

SOURCE Surgical Information Systems