Operating rooms contribute approximately 50% of hospital waste and are more energy-intensive than other hospital areas.
Now, a new study suggests that giving surgeons immediate feedback on the cost of an operation could help to slash healthcare costs.
The research, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, suggests that surgical scorecards, a novel tool designed to provide direct feedback to surgeons about the costs associated with procedures, have emerged as a promising approach to significantly reduce healthcare costs without compromising clinical outcomes.
The study, led by Dr Wesley Dixon, an internal medicine resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, highlights the potential of surgical scorecards in addressing the exorbitant expenses associated with healthcare in the US.