Operational Effectiveness in Surgical Services

A Conversation with Kate Geick

Episode Overview
Many challenges can arise when trying to implement standardized processes in complex surgical settings. Reviewing the data and performing prioritization exercises will help leaders identify inefficiencies and assist them with understanding where to begin to operate effectively. By utilizing data and engaging surgical staff, hospitals and ASCs will see tangible benefits to the financial bottom line and to staff and patients.

On this episode of Value-Based Care insights, host Daniel J. Marino has an informative discussion with Kate Geick on the benefits of implementing operational effectiveness tools in surgical services.

Key takeaways:

  • One of the biggest mistakes that hospitals make is collecting data without taking the next step to understand and interpret it. After gaining analytic insights into the problems you are facing you can move forward with an exercise like value stream mapping and identify opportunities for improvement right away.
  • It’s really important to not only measure certain KPIs on a regular basis, but also share the analytic insights with the right people on a regular basis. If you aren’t informing the staff who are affected by the inefficiencies and are instrumental in enacting the changes needed, then it will be very difficult to make improvements in processes.
  • Making changes to processes that the surgeons and staff have become accustomed to for years can be stressful. Necessary changes may involve more paperwork or more steps and this can create frustrations. Bringing the focus back to the purpose and why you’re doing it will help maintain the level of commitment needed to implement meaningful changes for improved operational effectiveness.

About The Show
From Healthcare NOW RadioValue-Based Care Insights is a podcast that explores how to optimize the performance of programs to meet the demands of an increasing value-based care payment environment. Hosted by Dan Marino (@DjmarinoHD), the VBCI podcast highlights recognized experts in the field and within Lumina Health Partners (@LuminaHP). Join the conversation on Twitter at #VBCInsights. This article was originally published on the Lumina Health Partners blog and is republished here with permission. For transcript, see original post.