orm_november-2024 - 1

NOV/DEC
2024
Volume 40
Number 11
Education and information for OR decision makers
LEADERSHIP
BY CYNTHIA SAVER
IN THIS ISSUE
INDUSTRY BEATS
Virtual care enhances
perioperative efficiency .................7
Practice updates ease steam
sterilization balancing act .............9
Reader's choice: OR am top
read stories ...............................12
SPECIALTY STORIES
Tardiness policies fine-tune rural
OR reform efforts .......................24
Why bullying, incivility demand
distinction .................................27
Perioperative certification
protects patients, promotes
nurse retention ..........................31
Next-Gen Disruptors:
No construction required-AI
uncovers system-wide capacity ....34
IMPORTANT
DATES
The OR Business Management
Conference is scheduled for
February 10-12 in Tampa, Florida.
Join us to chart the course for
success at the leading educational
event for perioperative business
managers!
Strategic thinking tools, techniques
transform vision to reality
S
trategic thinking is hard in the
pressure cooker that is today's
healthcare environment. Yet, understanding
and engaging in strategic
thinking has never been more important
to the success of organizations and
leaders.
" Strategic thinking is being able to
see the bigger picture and how the decisions
you make today are going to affect
the future, " says Kaye Reiter, MSN,
RN, NE-BC, consultant at Impact Advisors:
Healthcare Management Consulting
and member of the OR Manager
Editorial Board. " You have to be proSTAFFING
BY
BRITA BELLI
The anesthesia staffing crisis: How we
got here, what hospitals can do
L
ast November, two hospitals in
Portland, Oregon, reportedly had
to cancel several hundred procedures-nearly
all nonemergency surgeries-due
to a shortage of anesthesia
providers. This incident is just one example
of a precarious situation facing
hospitals and patients throughout the
country: The number of anesthesia providers
is not keeping pace with growing
demand for surgery.
According to findings published in
the Journal of Medicine, Surgery, and
Public Health, some 47% of large hospitals
say they do not have enough anesthesiologists
on staff, and the shortage
ranges from 2.6% to a staggering 12%
at hospitals across the country. Meanwhile,
a study in the journal Anesthesia
shows demand rising by 2% to 3%
per year since the COVID-19 pandemic,
alongside rising demand for elective
and outpatient procedures.
Alongside rising inflation, this dynamic
has increased the cost of outsourcing
anesthesiologists. Falling
Medicare reimbursement rates also increase
costs. As reported by Becker's
ASC Review, an analysis by revenue
cycle management company Coronis
Health reveals the average reimbursement
rate for anesthesia in 2023 was
down by 5.5% from 2019.
Continued on page 6
Continued on page 20
active and very forward
thinking. " That can be
challenging for nurses
who have been trained
to resolve situations as
they arise in the clinical
setting, which often requires
short-term thinking.
When it comes to
strategic thinking, Reiter
says leaders need to be " creative, analytical,
and practical, but it's hard to put
all three of those in a bucket together. "
Leaders also need to understand the
Continued on page 15
Kaye Reiter,
MSN, RN,
NE-BC
https://www.ormanager.com/
orm_november-2024

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