Dive Brief:
- Fourteen New Jersey hospitals took part in a 15-month initiative to improve ED and OR efficiency, cosponsored by the New Jersey Hospital Association members and Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Optimization.
- To improve ED and OR results, hospitals in the collaborative analyzed inefficiencies in their operations; these included uneven use of ORs that often led to long waits, as well as ED bottlenecks which slowed patient admissions to inpatient beds and post-surgical units.
- The collaborative partners learned that by addressing overall efficiency, they were able to improve patient flow, slash ED wait times and shorten patient stays, reducing operating costs and increasing revenues.
Dive Insight:
It's always good to see hospitals achieve new efficiencies, especially better performance than they'd originally expected. Let's hope these hospitals are able to share what they learned with their colleagues in other hospitals so they can pass the positive effects of their efforts along. When it comes to doing things right operationally, every little bit counts,