LeanTaaS Helps Leading U.S. Health Systems Effectively Manage Operating Room Capacity and Recover from COVID-19 Pandemic

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — May 04, 2021 — LeanTaaS, Inc., a leading Silicon Valley based software innovator that increases patient access and transforms operational performance for healthcare providers, today announced strong results for health systems and hospitals using iQueue for Operating Rooms in 2,000+ operating rooms and for over a million surgeries annually. Based on a study of 57 hospitals that have been live on the product for over a year, average case volume went up by 6 percent, staffed room utilization by 7 percent, prime-time utilization by 4 percent and block utilization by 5 percent¹.

During a tumultuous year for the healthcare industry, hospitals and health systems across the country experienced financial and operational strain as elective surgeries were significantly reduced or eliminated to release resources needed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. As surgeries are the financial backbone of most hospitals and health systems, healthcare organizations relied on technology from LeanTaaS to help navigate the reduction in operating room capacity as well as the subsequent backlog of cases. 

As the pandemic spread to the U.S., Novant Health (Novant), a non-profit integrated healthcare network headquartered in North Carolina with 15 hospitals and 134 operating rooms across multiple states (123 of which utilize iQueue for Operating Rooms on a daily basis), was already seeking a solution to address the frustrating yet common challenges of optimizing operating room capacity.

“We knew there had to be a better way to reach our patients and our surgeons,” said Dr. John Mann, President and Chief Operating Officer, Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center and System Physician Executive for the Surgical Institute Novant Health. “We had to be especially aggressive post-COVID and capture as many postponed cases as possible. We decided to partner with LeanTaaS to implement iQueue in our operating rooms. This was the right decision. It appears our return on the investment will be well worth it, and our patients and surgeons have benefited in very uncertain times”.

Novant recognized the value iQueue for Operating Rooms could provide not only in addressing its scheduling and access challenges in a competitive market but also in potentially helping to navigate the pending impact of the pandemic. Novant signed on with LeanTaaS in April of 2020 and successfully implemented the lightweight IT solution entirely remotely. As a result of implementing and deploying LeanTaaS’ tools during the pandemic, Novant realized a 3.8% YoY increase in OR minutes, which represents 330,000 additional minutes; a 2.6% increase in surgical volume, which represents 1,800 additional cases, and a 9% YoY increase in volume from splitter surgeons, alone, across the most competitive market. This is especially impressive considering a 31% drop in OR minutes March-May 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Novant has garnered an impressive 6x ROI, along with a greater breadth of engagement from surgeons and their practice administrators by using LeanTaaS’ iQueue for Operating Rooms software and team.

Additionally, one of LeanTaaS’ earliest customers also reported strong performance despite being in the epicenter of the U.S.’s first wave of COVID-19. In March 2020, MultiCare, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving the Washington state community, became acutely focused on the acquisition and retention of PPE, telemedicine, and centralized coordination of patients. As the organization emerged from the first wave, it faced not only the daily challenges of the unknown but also a significant backlog of elective surgery cases. MultiCare leveraged its partnership with LeanTaaS and the iQueue for Operating Rooms solution to flex OR capacity as much as possible to accommodate its elective surgery backlog.

“iQueue for Operating Rooms gave the entire health system a scalable, cost-effective solution that integrated with MultiCare’s Epic EHR, providing cloud-based access on mobile and web browsers,” said Dr. Michael Meyer, cardiothoracic surgeon at MultiCare. “LeanTaaS has not only helped our existing surgeons eliminate their case backlogs, but also has provided ease of access to open time for surgeons who were looking to bring new or more cases to MultiCare.”

LeanTaaS’ solutions have now been deployed in more than 300 hospitals across the U.S., including 12 of the top 20 hospitals in the U.S according to U.S. News & World Report. These hospitals use the iQueue platform to optimize capacity utilization in infusion centers, operating rooms, and inpatient beds. iQueue for Infusion Centers is used by 8,000+ chairs across 300+ infusion centers including 70 percent of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network  (NCCN) and more than 50 percent of National Cancer Institute (NCI) hospitals. iQueue for Operating Rooms is used by more than 2,000 ORs across 36 health systems to perform more surgical cases during business hours, increase competitiveness in the marketplace, and improve the patient experience. Lastly, iQueue for Inpatient Beds is the company’s newest platform, which was developed to combat the key issues hospitals are facing, including poor visibility into the current and future bed capacity, reactive decision-making, lack of end-to-end digital workflow and variable demand being met with limited supply.

¹Based on the results of a LeanTaaS study using paired t-tests to compare the means before and after deploying iQueue for Operating Rooms.

About LeanTaaS

LeanTaaS provides software solutions that combine lean principles, predictive analytics, and machine learning to transform hospital and infusion center operations. The company’s software is being used by over 100 health systems across the nation which all rely on the iQueue cloud-based solutions to increase patient access, decrease wait times, reduce healthcare delivery costs, and improve revenue. LeanTaaS is based in Santa Clara, California, and Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information about LeanTaaS, please visit https://leantaas.com/, and connect on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

LeanTaaS and iQueue are trademarks of LeanTaaS. All other brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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