worked with providers to tweak the pathway as needed. Full imple-
mentation in each specialty took about a year.
Challenging, but rewarding
It doesn't matter if you're a small ASC or a large general hospital, or if
you're standardizing cataracts, gastroenterology, orthopedics or car-
diac surgery — the process is the same. And the benefits of adopting
this care model can be significant. Within 3 months in our facility, we
saw a multimillion-dollar return on our investment and could do 15%
to 25% more cases with the same number of personnel and operating
rooms. We reduced overall overtime costs and patients' length of stay
and, most importantly, improved our patients' 30-day outcomes. OSM
5 5
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
Dr. Cook (cook.david@mayo.edu) is an anesthesiologist and professor at the
Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn. He is also the chair of cardiovascular anesthesia
at the Mayo Clinic and sits on the Mayo Systems Engineering Group.
