By achieving greater efficiency in the operating room, some of the nation's largest health systems have put wind in their financial sails and improved patient care.
Renton, Wash.-based Providence, a 51-hospital health system faced a loss of $547 million (-3.9% margin) in the first six months of fiscal 2023. The health system's leaders became laser-focused on reversing this trend. They turned to LeanTaaS to improve efficiency in what is often one of the greatest cost centers for hospitals — the OR. LeanTaaS' iQueue solution gave the system the ability to proactively release block time and reduce idle OR space.
Block time is an essential component of OR workflows. Surgeons and their staff "block" time in the OR for surgeries. Ideally, these block times create predictable working environments for surgical staff and consistency for patients. However, in many cases, blocks that are no longer needed are released late or not at all, and many scheduled procedures do not need the full time that's been blocked, resulting in empty ORs that are not being utilized.
"The ability to release it early is crucial," Susan Stacey, BSN, chief executive for the Providence Inland Northwest Washington service area said. "Think of it like a hotel reservation; if you can put somebody else in that room who needs that access, it's better. It's all about serving more patients in the allotted time that we have during regular business hours."
Providence, which has deployed the single largest instance of Epic in the world, was eager to introduce iQueue in over 400 ORs across seven states as fast as possible. The goal was to get the solution up and running in all these locations in just nine months. The LeanTaaS team's attention to detail, understanding of Providence's culture and focus on excellent training for staff made the transition possible, according to Hoda Asmar, MD, executive vice president and system chief clinical officer for Providence.
"Everyone knows what's happening, when it's happening, and what we are trying to achieve," Dr. Asmar said. "There were no complaints, just teamwork leading to success."
From using phone calls and faxes to schedule high-demand operating rooms, to a fully integrated web-based application in iQueue, Providence achieved results by believing in systematic changes that set-up transformative initiatives. Since first introducing iQueue in 2023, Providence has seen a 30% reduction in unused and unreleased block time.
The successful collaboration with LeanTaaS has sent ripples of benefits throughout the organization. Early release times have increased and the backfill for released slots is at 34% with improving numbers month over month.
Leaders report fewer delays, higher levels of satisfaction for both staff and patients and improved accuracy in scheduling. "There's a lot of pent-up demand in our communities, and it has allowed us to serve more with the same infrastructure that has been in place," said Providence CFO Greg Hoffman.
National data shows continued profit surge with AI implementation
With the help of LeanTaaS' AI-powered iQueue, health systems can gather and analyze real-time data with visualizations, key measures and even personalized scorecards for surgeons.
The solution digitalizes and optimizes workflows by suggesting adjustments to block allocations and streamlining the scheduling process for ORs. This ensures that operating room schedules are optimized to meet actual demand.
For the average health system, block utilization increases by 10%, staffed room utilization goes up by 11% and entire unused blocks decrease by 7% after launching iQueue, according to a LeanTaaS analysis of 2022 and 2023 utilization data (adjusted for any COVID-19-related impact) of its 86 health system customers across 4,500-plus ORs. On average, health systems experienced a 6% increase in case volume per OR per month, which bolstered users' financial performance. One 13-hospital health system experienced a $400,000 net revenue increase per OR. Other systems saw contribution margins or net revenue increases upwards of $10 million.
In 2024, optimized OR usage has contributed to financial success at Providence. During the first half of the year, the health systems saw an increase in operating income of $53 million (0.3% margin).
Apart from impacting the bottom line and creating more efficiency for OR staff, LeanTaaS' AI-powered technology is changing the way health systems operate.
"It's changed the conversations in our block committees, because we have one source of truth," Ms. Stacy said. "Now we can make better decisions about block allocation. We can make better decisions about where we put our cases, mornings or nights, Tuesdays or Fridays. Really looking at it much more strategically."
Now Providence and LeanTaaS are looking to the future.
"We agreed to a longer-term vision," Dr. Asmar said. "We don't want to just address the current problem. We want to build something to last. We want to achieve modernization and growth in the space, so we can serve our communities better and more timely."