American Shared Hospital Services (AMS), a provider of solutions for radio surgical and radiation therapy services, and NBBJ, a global architecture and design firm, have joined together in a 50-50 venture to sell technologies to increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes in the operating room (OR), according to a press release.
The technologies are patented and patent-pending, according to the press release.
“Operating rooms are high-cost/high-revenue environments,” D.C. Krupka and W.S. Sandberg write in a PubMed abstract. “In an era of rising costs and declining reimbursement, it is essential to optimize the effectiveness of the operating room suite, maximizing throughput of profitable cases while minimizing the costs of necessary, but unprofitable, procedures.” Back in 2005, experts estimated that OR time cost hospitals between $10 and $30 a minute.
Anything that can be done to speed that up safely is a concern of any hospital. Safety can be simple – removing wires that healthcare professionals could trip over, not allowing anything to hang from the ceiling – to the more serious, like having the right equipment on hand so nurses don’t have to look for it, possibly avoiding an absence when and if a complication occurs during surgery.
"OR21 is a new way of thinking about how surgical environments can improve patient safety and surgical team efficiency and enhance payback for healthcare institutions,” said Richard Dallam, partner-in-charge of NBBJ Healthcare, in the press release. “In developing our technologies, we asked surgeons, nurses and radiologists what they need to be successful, and spent hundreds of hours observing ORs in action. Our joint venture signals our commitment to sparking a revolution in operating rooms by introducing advanced technologies that address the needs of clinicians and improve patient outcomes.”
According to the press release, new expectations have been placed on operating rooms for access, cost and quality of healthcare delivery. Added AMS chairman and CEO Ernest A. Bates, M.D., in the press release, "The global challenges of access, cost and quality of healthcare delivery are creating a new focus on the performance and accountability of operating rooms. This venture will demonstrate what is possible when leading companies with complementary capabilities work together to meet a common goal.”
Bates said in the release that the two companies will zero in on everything from new operating room lighting concepts to operating table design and that they are discussing with a third party licensing agreements for the manufacture and distribution of products based on these proprietary technologies. The two companies said they expect the new products and technologies to be available late in 2013.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
