UCHealth’s University of Colorado Hospitals have adopted a machine learning system for their operating room (OR) that has resulted in an increase in revenue of $10 million. In an article describing the results in Rev Cycle Intelligence, UCHealth’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Gronow and Chief Information Officer Steve Hess partnered with LeanTaaS, a software that uses lean principles and predictive analytics. The system creates a machine learning queuing system that analyzes recent OR data to help inform decisions regarding surgery scheduling.
Their system uses predictive analytics to build a schedule that caters to the block utilization practices of the hospital’s surgeons. It analyzed how well surgeons used their block times to create improved surgery schedules. The queuing platform strays away from traditional block scheduling by giving surgeons the ability to add and release blocks on their own. With this system UCHealth noticed a 4% increase in OR utilization. Gronow notes that predictive operations will be a part of successful hospitals in the future and UCHealth will be on the forefront of it.