Impact of Operating Room Shut Downs Due to Staffing Shortages
Impact of Operating Room Shut Downs Due to Staffing Shortages
A recent article in the Boston Globe raised a red alert on hospital operating rooms being temporarily closed due to staffing shortages and other pandemic related challenges. In the article, Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health, reported that, “… closing ORs is a near daily event.” He stated that UMass Memorial has nearly 2,000 staff vacancies, including 500 openings for nurses, making it hard to keep the ORs functioning at normal capacity. In the article, Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Lahey, and Lowell General all reported similar challenges in keeping their operating rooms open.
Our special guest on this episode is Richard Palarea, CEO of Kermit PPI, a Baltimore-based healthcare cost reduction and spend management company focused on maximizing operating room efficiencies and profitability. Rich is an expert in hospital OR operations and has seen the good and bad side of healthcare systems from a business and management perspective.