Geisinger announced the launch of what they are calling “ProvenRecovery”, a surgical redesign program aimed at expediting healing, improving pain management and reducing opioid use. The program will be implemented across 42 surgical procedures impacting approximately 15,000 surgical cases annually, with the goal of reaching 100 surgical specialties by the end of 2019. The program embraces several components of the perioperative surgical home (PSH), specifically a focus on optimizing pre-operative nutrition, utilization of opioid-light multi-modal pain management and early post-operative mobility. Early results from the pilot of the program have been impressive, reporting an 18 percent decrease in opioid usage across the organization. During the pilot, neurosurgery and colorectal surgery patients saw their hospital stays cut in half. Earlier discharges accounted for an average savings of $4,556 per case for colorectal surgery patients.
EHC NOTE: These results show the potential impact of implementing the concepts of the peri-operative surgical home. Geisinger, however has an implementation advantage in that they are an integrated delivery model, including a health plan, which allows them to design and enforce adherence to the program. While each hospital or health system has the capability to achieve similar results, the challenges of reaching that goal will vary dramatically based on the ability to align all aspects of the delivery model within their structure and alignment with surgical and anesthesia staff.