For ASCs, maximizing capacity doesn’t always mean adding operating rooms or expanding facilities. Sometimes, it means rethinking the processes that determine how existing space is used.
At Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health’s Surgery Center Division, that meant moving away from individual centers’ longstanding scheduling practices in favor of a more standardized, data-driven approach.
Peter Bravos, MD, division vice president and chief medical officer, joined Becker’s to discuss how the shift has helped centers capture more cases, improve surgeon access and make better use of existing capacity.
Questions: What’s one process your ASC stopped doing in the past year that you don’t miss, and what did you replace it with?
Dr. Peter Bravos: We stopped managing the schedule center by center on habit and history. Each center had its own informal rules for releasing time and filling gaps, and those rules left capacity on the table. We replaced them with a division-wide schedule optimization program built on utilization data and a daily, weekly and monthly operating rhythm. Daily, centers fill open slots and release unused time early. Weekly, they review utilization and match surgeons with demand to available rooms. Monthly, leadership reviews performance across the division. Through this process, surgeons have gained more predictable access, and our centers have captured more cases without adding rooms. Capacity is an ASC’s most expensive asset, and it is too valuable to manage by tradition.
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.
