The Business of Surgery

Cost Control Takes Top 2 Spots In Survey Of Priorities For Hospital Executives

The Advisory Board recently shared the results of its Annual Health Care CEO Survey. The survey asked hospital CEOs to rank their concern over a wide range of topics across the healthcare spectrum. In a break from prior years, both of the top 2 concerns revolved around cost structure and management. While growing their hospitals […]

Cost Control Takes Top 2 Spots In Survey Of Priorities For Hospital Executives Read More »

How A Periodic Evaluation Of Your Consigned Inventory Can Save Your Hospital Millions

There are many reasons why hospitals choose to consign the expensive implants and supplies that they use in surgical settings. However, deciding to consign a product without continuously analyzing that decision can be costing your hospital millions of dollars each year. Read on to find out some best practices when it comes to reducing the

How A Periodic Evaluation Of Your Consigned Inventory Can Save Your Hospital Millions Read More »

How One Health System Negotiated Its Way To $1.5 Million In Annual Savings On Ortho Implants

HonorHealth, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based health system with over $1.7 billion in annual revenues, recently undertook a process to identify cost savings opportunities across the system. Early on, the joint-replacement service line jumped out as a prime candidate for cost savings. An early analysis by the five hospital system and their group purchasing organization pointed out

How One Health System Negotiated Its Way To $1.5 Million In Annual Savings On Ortho Implants Read More »

Expensive Medical Supplies Stolen From Hospitals

A medical supply rep from Maryland was recently charged in the theft of expensive medical kits from area hospitals that he later sold on eBay.  Each of the medical kits were sold for approximately $33,000 each, netting the man nearly $200,000. As this article from The Washington Post explains: “Burke Slater, 52, of Gaithersburg, was

Expensive Medical Supplies Stolen From Hospitals Read More »

Medical Device Recalls Reach Historic Highs In 2018

The first quarter of 2018 included 343 medical device recalls by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This was the highest for a first calendar quarter of any year on record and was up 126% from 2017. Experts point to the proliferation of software on medical devices as a primary driver for the record

Medical Device Recalls Reach Historic Highs In 2018 Read More »

How Supply Price Inaccuracies Can Affect The Bottom Line

Due to the nature of how hospitals and health systems acquire supplies, product prices are constantly changing. Different hospitals in the same health system, and even different departments within the same hospital, may be paying different rates for the same items, and those prices are typically in flux. With supply chains and individual departments within

How Supply Price Inaccuracies Can Affect The Bottom Line Read More »

Supply Stock-Outs Have An Outsized Effect On The Bottom Line

A recent survey conducted by Cardinal Health showed that 40% of hospital staff have cancelled a case due to an out-of-stock supply, and 69% of staff have had to delay a case while a missing supply is being tracked down. Having spoken to hundreds of staff in operating rooms, cath labs and interventional radiology labs,

Supply Stock-Outs Have An Outsized Effect On The Bottom Line Read More »

Disappointed With The ROI From Your EHR Investment? You’re Not Alone

Yet another study has been published showing the disappointing return on investment that hospitals are experiencing with their electronic health record (EHR) implementations. The new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that the costs of administering billing and insurance-related functions may actually have increased following EHR roll-outs. This is

Disappointed With The ROI From Your EHR Investment? You’re Not Alone Read More »

The Key To Figuring Out Your Cost Per Case

Historically, the cost of a surgical procedure has been a difficult equation to solve. As the US healthcare system moves more and more toward a value-based system, hospitals require now more than ever an accurate understanding of their procedure costs. These accurate procedure costs then need to be compared to outcomes in order to perform

The Key To Figuring Out Your Cost Per Case Read More »

The “Post-EHR” Era Will Require Hospitals To Get More Value Out Of Their EHR Data

Hospitals are just scratching the surface of the value that they can derive from the data in their Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Simultaneously, they are facing a growing threat to their EHR data – physicians and other clinicians are increasingly vocal about their frustration with the time they are spending documenting encounters in EHRs instead

The “Post-EHR” Era Will Require Hospitals To Get More Value Out Of Their EHR Data Read More »