CareAdvantage Perioperative Efficiency Capability Reduces Hospital Operational Costs

At the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC) annual meeting, the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies (JJMDC)* reported results from a real-world evidence study conducted with UCSF Health to analyze operating room (OR) data for specific procedures and identify areas to improve efficiencies. The study examined improvements in surgical instrument tray set-up time and several other endpoints for total knee and hip procedures made by leveraging CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies** and its Perioperative Efficiency capability.
 
UCSF already was performing above benchmark for overall procedure OR set-up time going into the study.ⁱ By leveraging the CareAdvantage approach, UCSF improved instrument tray set up time in the operating room further, by three minutes for hip procedures and six minutes for knee procedures. The study also revealed additional improvements: a 57-percent reduction in total number of surgical instrument trays, a 29-percent decrease in the number of instruments used across total hip and knee procedures, and a 46-percent reduction in the average number of open trays. This translated to an estimated cost savings totaling more than $262,000 annually.ⁱⁱ
 
“An important priority for UCSF as an academic institution is optimizing our OR processes and delivering better care to our patients,” said Richard Capra, chief administrative officer, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF. “The study results provide insights about how we can achieve our goals by reducing the variation in clinical processes, lowering our inventory costs and physical footprint, improving our clinical staff’s productivity, reducing environmental impact, and helping enhance quality of care.”
 
The CareAdvantage Perioperative Efficiency capability offers tailored approaches to help reduce operational costs and the variation in clinical processes by streamlining the movement of JJMDC devices through the surgical services and sterile processing departments.
 
“Approaches such as the one used by JJMDC and UCSF can help hospitals and health systems make important strides in addressing perioperative management,” said Michael Gagnon, chief administrative officer, Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center and founder of The Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC). “As both academic institutions and other systems seek how to deliver efficiencies and better outcomes, improving the processes involved in performing surgical operations can be a critical area to make an impact.”
 
According to JJMDC’s recent Voices for Value Insights Series, a survey of U.S. health system executives and operating room clinicians, there is increased demand for strategies to improve perioperative efficiency, with two-thirds of executives (64 percent) and more than half of clinicians (56 percent)ⁱⁱⁱ citing the improvement of perioperative efficiency as a priority for their health system. The survey also found that three out of four executives and clinicians believe perioperative efficiency can improve a number of health system operations, including overall performance (81 percent), cost (76 percent) and time challenges (75 percent).^iv Two thirds of respondents also believe that perioperative efficiency can improve outcomes: patient satisfaction (68 percent) and quality of care (67 percent).^v
 
“Perioperative efficiency is an important area of focus for health systems seeking to improve clinical processes, lower operational costs and enhance patient outcomes,” said Christina Farup, M.D., vice president, Health Economics and Market Access, JJMDC. “Our CareAdvantage approach starts with listening and focuses on leveraging data to identify goals and create actionable plans for improvement for health systems to achieve value-based care.”
 
The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies’ purpose is to reach more patients and restore more lives. Having advanced patient care for more than a century, these companies represent an unparalleled breadth of products, services, programs and research and development capabilities in surgical technology, orthopaedics, cardiovascular and specialty solutions with an offering directed at delivering clinical and economic value to health care systems worldwide.
 
Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. (JJHCS) provides contracting, supply chain, business services, and strategic solutions to customers and commercial intermediaries of U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson companies, including hospital systems, health plans, distributors, wholesalers, purchasing organizations, government payer programs, and government healthcare institutions in the United States. JJHCS also engages with customers to provide streamlined supply chain services for our products that seamlessly integrate with customer operations, address shared evolving market challenges to value-based care, and develop innovative solutions that improve patient care and access.
 
* The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies comprise the surgery, orthopaedics, and cardiovascular businesses within Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices segment.
 
** CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies is offered through Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. Its Perioperative Efficiency capability is provided for JJMDC products.

References
i. Sanbon BJ. Hospitals save millions with sustainability programs, cut back on waste. Healthcare Finance. March 14, 2017. http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/hospitals-save-millions-sustainability-programs-cut-back-waste
ii. The survey was conducted online between September 7 and 13, 2017 among 92 executives and clinicians at large U.S. health systems.