For ASCs, maximizing OR utilization increasingly depends on whether staffing can flex as quickly as surgical volume does.
Two anesthesia leaders told Becker’s that rigid staffing models and last-minute schedule adjustments can quietly erode efficiency and margins.
Question: What’s one technology, process improvement, staffing shift or other initiative you have implemented in the last year that genuinely moved the needle on OR utilization?
Brian Cohen, MD. Administrative Chief of Miami Anesthesia Services: As our company has grown to 22 ASCs, we’ve learned how to customize yet scale the techniques and processes that help us manage each site. This year, we turned that process into an integrated digital service called PING Anesthesia.
With subsidy pressure rising, ASCs and anesthesia groups have almost no margin left for staffing that doesn’t match the day’s actual case load. For years, our management team and schedulers relied on chat groups with the centers that provided open dialogue and transparency into upcoming OR schedules as they shifted over time. This worked, but it was reactive and relied heavily on ASC staff taking an active role above and beyond their previous requirements. The result was that many of the opportunities and changes became visible too close to the day of surgery.
PING adds a layer of automation and niche industry foresight that catches these mismatches up to two to three weeks out instead of day-of, surfacing the most cost-efficient staffing call for our team to act on while staying compliant and nimble. When we layer in the data already living in EHR platforms like HST Pathways, the impact on a center’s OR utilization and bottom line compounds further.
Aligned incentives paired with human-led technology that scales has really been the combination that moved the needle for us and our ASC partners this past year, saving our ASCs an average of $110,000 per center in anesthesia subsidies.
Nick Schiavoni, MD. Anesthesiologist and CEO of Calder Health (Laguna Beach, Calif.): Trying to control OR utilization is an uphill battle. Surgical volume will always rise and fall no matter what you do. But you can protect the economics around it, and the biggest lever is flexible anesthesia coverage. Scrambling to fill gaps the night before rarely works. And paying people to sit idle after a late cancellation is no better. The needle moves when you build a flexible, coordinated bench. Rigidity, staffing the same way every day, kills efficiency. Flexibility protects it.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
