Editor's Note This Australian study finds it is a good economic decision for large healthcare facilities to invest in low-temperature systems for sterilization of steam-sterilizable endoscopes. Increased costs associated with low-temperature systems were outweighed by savings from fewer instrument repairs. Based on their calculations, the researchers estimated a savings of…

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Editor's Note For the third straight year, Boston Children’s Hospital tops the US News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was second, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was third. US News bases its honor roll on how hospitals rank in each of 10…

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Editor's Note The global ambulatory services market was valued at $2.3 trillion in 2016 and is forecast to grow to $3.7 trillion by 2024, according to a new study by Ameri Research. In 2016, primary care offices accounted for the majority of market share at more than 48% because they…

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Keeping a close eye on implants that are opened and not used is one way OR leaders can track practices that add significantly to costs. But what about blood products? Blood taken to the OR and not used also can be costly. Although an individual unit of blood doesn't compare…

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Researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, have invented a new surgical instrument with the goal of addressing a vast, unmet need in minimally invasive surgery. For less than a thousand dollars, this platform technology—currently being commercialized by the start-up FlexDex Surgical—offers capabilities similar to those of the…

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Healthcare providers and their patients have benefited from practices borrowed from other industries—for example, the checklists and time-outs used in aviation or the Lean management principles used in manufacturing. Applying lessons learned in the entertainment industry to the hospital setting may seem like a stretch, but Dennis Snow will explore…

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Surgeons usually don’t have a high awareness of costs, partly because they haven’t had an easy way to know them. An unfortunate byproduct of this lack of knowledge can be higher OR costs. “Imagine what it’s like if, when you go to the grocery store, there are no price tags,…

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Ccommon cost-saving strategies in the OR include increasing workflow efficiency, reducing turnover times, implementing standardized preoperative protocols, and improving surgical case scheduling and first case on-time starts (FCOTS). These interventions aim to decrease under- and overutilized time in the OR, but there is conflicting evidence about their economic value. Many…

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Among the changes occurring in healthcare delivery is an emerging trend that suggests ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) may find themselves with a new type of business partner—or possible competition. That would be the microhospital, which occupies a fraction of the space of a standard inpatient hospital, with some, but not…

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Editor's Note The global market for gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy devices is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 5.09% through 2020, the June 13 Becker’s GI & Endoscopy reports. A large, growing patient pool is driving growth, but risks and complications tied to GI endoscopy procedures also will…

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