Putting surgeons in the know regarding their OR spend can help hospitals reduce costs drastically. This is the main finding from a study published in JAMA Surgery by a study team at the University of California, San Francisco. A test group of surgeons who received monthly feedback on their OR costs reduced their spend by 6% per year on average, while docs at the same site who did not receive feedback increased their spend by 7% per year on average.
Furthermore, the study found that these significant cost decreases can be gained without sacrificing quality. This article found at Fierce Healthcare by Paige Minemyer discusses the recent study.
“The study team, lead by Corinna C. Zygourakis, M.D., a resident in the department of neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, concluded that cost feedback and financial incentives can reduce surgical costs without a negative impact to patient outcomes.
Some surgical departments fared better than others, according to the study. For example, obstetrics and gynecology reduced costs despite not receiving feedback, while neurology failed to decrease costs even with the intervention of the scorecards.
Other cost-cutting strategies for surgical centers include clear negotiations with surgeons about the costs upfront—which has been shown to reduce costs for outpatient spine procedures—and improved wound care techniques that can reduce length of stay after a procedure.”
Read the entire article here: Surgeons may reduce OR costs with feedback, incentives
The ability to share real-time costs with your surgeons can provide many benefits to your hospital, including increased transparency, higher levels of cost vigilance and reduced spend. Having accurate, reliable, real-time data to share with physicians is the key to driving this potentially significant improvement.