CHICAGO, IL – January 29, 2025 – As hospital leaders prepare for the challenges of 2025, Surgical Directions unveils five insights gleaned from our work with health system clients in 2024. These insights are intended to help hospital and physician leaders enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and elevate the quality of care while navigating an evolving healthcare landscape.
Leslie Basham, President and CEO of Surgical Directions, states, “The success stories from 2024 showcase the impact of focus. Health systems dove deep into specific areas like Anesthesiology, Sterile Processing and OR utilization. This focus allowed them to set a new standard for patient care and financial sustainability. As we head into 2025, these lessons serve as a road map to confidently improve procedural performance.”
Key Insights for Hospital Leaders in 2025
1. Transforming Surgical Culture for Efficiency and Growth
Creating improvement within surgical services requires a shift in culture and mindset. It drives measurable improvements in OR utilization, retention, and financial performance. Hospitals implementing cultural transformation strategies experienced over 20% increases in primetime OR utilization within six to 12 months. By fostering collaborative governance, creating fair surgeon access systems, and leveraging digital scheduling and staffing tools, organizations optimized operations and reduced waste. One health system achieved a 25% jump in surgical volume, showcasing the power of data-driven innovation in surgical services.
2. Streamlining Anesthesia Contract Management
The Merlin™ Anesthesia ContractCompare tool saved over $2 million across five hospitals within just six months of its launch in June 2024. By evaluating key contract points in over 50 different categories and subcategories, the tool streamlines contract evaluations, enhancing transparency and reducing financial waste in anesthesiology services.
3. Achieving Excellence in Sterile Processing
Boston Children’s Hospital redefined patient safety in 2024 by transforming its Central Sterile Processing Department. Achieving and sustaining a near 0% defect rate in instrument trays and earning the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association’s Quality Award, the hospital demonstrated the power of advanced technologies and a culture of accountability.
4. Reducing Anesthesia Locum Costs
By focusing on addressing locum staffing costs, hospitals are achieving savings of up to $3,200 daily per locum physician and $2,000 per locum CRNA. Surgical Directions’ strategies, led by Dr. Jason Klopotowski, emphasize predictive analytics, governance frameworks, and ongoing education to ensure effective staffing and financial sustainability.
5. Leading with Purpose to Inspire Innovation
Jill Schwieters, Senior Managing Director, introduced “Leading with Purpose,” a comprehensive guide to adaptive leadership. The guide emphasizes cultivating talent, fostering collaboration, and navigating leadership challenges with actionable strategies that resonate across healthcare organizations.
Driving Results Through Innovation and Leadership
These best practices illustrate the potential for hospitals to achieve measurable improvements in efficiency, cost management, and care quality. By applying these proven strategies, healthcare leaders can confidently navigate the challenges of 2025 while fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
ABOUT SURGICAL DIRECTIONS
Surgical Directions is a healthcare solutions company that helps health systems, provider groups and ASCs improve perioperative, procedural care and anesthesia services through consulting, technology, and leadership. We partner with organizations using peer-to-peer leadership, process expertise and predictive analytics. Our team of experienced practitioners and consultants tackles critical issues while achieving financial, operational, and clinical outcome excellence. Surgical Directions has successfully served 500 clients to increase patient access and, most importantly, improve patient care. Additional information is available at www.surgicaldirections.com.
