The AAPS 102nd Annual Meeting

Utilization Fraction of Ambulatory Hand Procedures: Cost Reduction Through Instrument Tray Optimization

Ogechukwu C. Onuh BA, Michael F. Cassidy BA, David L. Tran MD, Hilliard T Brydges BS, Miguel I. Dorante MD MBE, Matteo Laspro BA, Rebecca Friedman BA, Lifei Guo MD, Nikhil A. Agrawal MD, Ernest S Chiu MD

Background:

•An estimated $760 - 935 billion dollars are wasted annually within the healthcare industry in the United States, making it the country with the most expenditures.

•Operating rooms (OR) typically account for 60-70% of hospital operational expenses, making efforts promoting cost-cutting in surgical services paramount.

•We evaluated the utilization fraction (UF) of surgical instruments during a commonly performed ambulatory hand surgery case.

•Aim for cost reduction, increased operating room efficiency, and systems quality improvement.

Methods:

•We assessed utilization of surgical instruments in ambulatory hand procedures from October 2022 through June 2023 in an urban public hospital.

•Annual surgical volume was determined using CPT codes (below) over a two-year period (12/1/2020-12/1/2022) and averaging the number of cases per year.

•CPT codes for carpal tunnel release (CTR), trigger finger release (TFR), open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), and closed reduction percutaneous pinning (CRPP) were used.

1.The total number of instruments opened at the start of each case was recorded.

2.Instruments were then grouped as used or not used during the procedure.

3.Used instruments were counted.

•Total sterile processing costs were estimated at $1.56 per instrument according to data from our institution's central sterilization processing (CSP) department.

The AAPS 102nd Annual Meeting

Utilization Fraction Of Ambulatory Hand Procedures: Cost Reduction Through Surgical Instrument Tray Optimization

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