Top Challenges That Hospitals Face

Anesthesia plays a key role in every hospital's operations including operating room efficiency (on-time starts, recovery time, etc.), patient safety and clinical outcomes and patient, surgeon and surgical staff satisfaction. Ironically, hospital anesthesia departments can sometimes feel and act like outsiders despite their deep integration with the hospital. 

Premier Anesthesia has conducted over 150 evaluations of hospitals and found that there are three consistent issues that plague hospitals across the country.

1. Cost Issues 

The biggest contributors to anesthesia-related costs are below optimimum levels of OR room utilization and clinical productivity. OR utilization is a measure of use of an operating room that is appropriately staffed with personnel to successfully deliver a surgical procedure to a patient.  
Factors affecting utilization rates include:

• accuracy of estimated case time
• cancellation rate
• number of add-on cases available to fill gaps

Improvements in OR efficiency can have a major impact on hospital staff, finances and OR management. Watch the video of how increased productivity and efficiency resulted in substantial savings for a client hospital.

2. Leadership Issues

Lack of anesthesia leadership causes ripple effects throughout the OR. The role of anesthesia within a hospital touches other departments; accounting, business management, technology, and plays a critical role in a hospital's long-term success. Click here to learn how Premier Anesthesia creates strong medical leadership and alignment.

3. Service Issues

Oftentimes, the anesthesia service may not be aligned with the broader goals of the facility.  Click here to learn how Premier Anesthesia creates alignment between the anesthesia team and your hospital/health system's strategy.

4. Crisis Management

Financial issues, leadership challenges and customer service needs can weaken anesthesia departments over time. If left unchecked, crises may occur. Premier Anesthesia has solutions and resources to address impending anesthesia department crises, including provision of immediate staffing and management. For more information on Premier Anesthesia's crisis management solutions, please click here.