Achieving operating room efficiency through process integration.

As healthcare organizations look for ways to gain new efficiencies and reduce costs, they are examining surgical services with a critical eye. In many cases, the operating room (OR) was not included in enterprisewide reengineering efforts, thereby limiting the positive impact of those efforts. Healthcare organizations are recognizing that every point along the patient care continuum is interrelated. To truly maximize reengineering efforts, they need to integrate the entire process and information flow within the OR and across the enterprise.