Kurt Hertogs, CEO of AZ Monica’s Orthopedic Focus Clinic, highlights how data can unite surgeons, staff, and management to drive meaningful change. By quantifying OR performance, data builds trust, empowers teams, and creates a foundation for business cases that support sustainable improvements in hospital operations.

Operating rooms drive both revenue and costs, making efficiency critical to hospital performance. Key metrics, such as standardization, consistency, parallel processing, and optimal use of staff and materials, help identify improvement opportunities. Even small process changes, like parallelizing preparation steps, can reduce variability, save time, and boost OR throughput.

Activity-based costing links OR costs directly to resource use, giving hospitals clearer insights to cut expenses, benchmark performance, and justify investments. Using this approach, hospitals have achieved up to 8% annual cost savings while freeing OR capacity.

Improving operating room efficiency is about more than increasing surgical volume. It impacts staff well-being, hospital finances, and patient satisfaction. By broadening the focus beyond surgical time to include setup, breakdown, resource use, and team ergonomics, hospitals can uncover opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce costs, and create a healthier, more sustainable work environment.

At The Surgery Center of Lynchburg, Dr. Peter Caprise reduced hip replacement instrument trays from 8–9 to 5 per case, cutting sterile processing costs by $40,300 annually while streamlining workflows, easing staff workload, and improving sustainability.

At Hôpital de la Croix Saint-Simon in Paris, Dr. Thomas Aubert seamlessly integrated robot-assisted knee surgery, enhancing consistency, reducing team workload, and creating a smooth surgical rhythm. The team is now building on this foundation to increase OR throughput in flip rooms.

Noorderhart Hospital, supported by Vlaanderen Circulair, optimized surgical trays to cut sterilization costs by 50% (€56,500 annually), streamline workflows, reduce staff workload, and improve sustainability. This is an excellent example showcasing how regional collaboration drives circular healthcare innovation.

Dr. Robert Sershon optimized his OR workflow to increase throughput from 9 to 13 joint replacements in under 10 hours by applying data-driven insights, parallel processes, and refined team communication, setting a new benchmark for surgical efficiency and patient care.

Dr. Geert Leirs optimized his high-throughput OR for robot-assisted knee surgery by reducing process variability, shortening total OR time by 9 minutes per case, and cutting the OR day by 46 minutes. This all while improving ergonomics, teamwork, and care quality.

Dr. R.B. Jones, orthopedic surgeon and leader at Mercy Health System, created a process digital twin of his OR that confirmed strong best practices while highlighting opportunities to reduce time and variability, helping him further elevate efficiency and operational excellence.

Dr. Robert Sershon and his team at Harborside Surgery Center increased throughput from nine to ten joint replacements in an eight-hour day by streamlining preparation and reducing idle time, boosting efficiency without adding strain on staff or compromising care.

Dr. Afonso partnered with DEO.care to optimize OR processes at Clinica de Beloura, reducing turnover time by over 50%, increasing process consistency, and enabling one additional bariatric surgery per day.

The Nano Clinic in Arroyo Grande partnered with DEO.care to optimize its OR workflow. Using data-driven insights and process simulations, the team streamlined operations, shortened the OR day by an hour, cut overtime by 50%, and boosted staff satisfaction—all while maintaining patient-centric care.

In the U.S., Dr. Robert Sershon optimized efficiency in outpatient joint replacement by standardizing workflows, ensuring consistency, and safely scaling from one to two parallel ORs. His approach now enables 9–11 joint replacements per day while maintaining patient satisfaction, team well-being, and predictable case flow.

At Noorderhart Hospital in Belgium, Dr. Leirs applied lean principles to robot-assisted knee surgery, eliminating waste, standardizing workflows, and improving team communication. This approach enabled consistent results across rotating nursing teams and increased throughput to six surgeries per day, without compromising quality of care.

Rising demand for hip replacements and hospital pressures make OR efficiency critical. Prof. Dr. Corten and Dr. Vanbiervliet show how standardized workflows, optimized teams, and ergonomic tools enable high-volume anterior approach THA, up to 14 procedures a day, while improving outcomes, staff well-being, and costs.

Whether merging hospital campuses, expanding a clinic, or setting up an ASC, data-driven insights are key to adapting and optimizing processes. Dr. Miguel Afonso illustrates this approach in his decision to expand his clinic with a private gastroclinic.

Dr. Christophe Olyslaegers, Orthopedic Surgeon at GZA St. Augustinus in Belgium, shares how dedicated surgical teams, team-led initiatives, and standardized processes improve OR efficiency and collaboration. He also highlights the vital role of data in identifying improvements that save time and streamline workflows.

Professor Kristoff Corten and his team at Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg (Belgium) show that efficiency in hip surgery isn’t about cutting costs, but about smarter processes. By standardizing workflows and using ergonomic tools, they improved consistency, reduced fatigue, and delivered better outcomes for patients and staff alike.