Intralign is a specialty healthcare services company offering a solution for improving quality and cost for orthopedic providers and hospitals in general. The company's data-driven efficiency tools, care-centered design process and clinical support service are designed to control costs and enhance outcomes for joint replacement procedures. "We find that one of the key challenges for orthopedic surgeries in hospitals and surgery centers today is to increase operating room efficiency to gain more throughput by optimizing labor input," says Lars Thording, PhD, vice president, marketing and public affairs of Intralign. "A hip replacement takes a few hours today, and what prevents the hospital or ASC from being more efficient is the right expertise and the right processes. We are offering a solution to medical providers — hospitals and ASCs."
There is a great deal of variance in cost for orthopedic procedures due to several factors, including materials used and differences in clinical support and process. "Around 50 percent of the costs are incurred in the intraoperative space," says Dr. Thording. "We looked at how we could improve that and we found that providing highly qualified Surgical First Assists dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes to do the surgery, freeing surgeon time and other resources to ultimately increase throughput."
Surgical First Assists are individuals, including physician assistants, who have specialized training in surgery as well as appropriate license and certification to help with the procedure. Staffing models that increase involvement of mid-level qualified talent help optimize physician involvement, increase efficiency of care and can ultimately increase throughput. According to Mr. Thording, using First Assists can reduce surgical time by 30 percent and increase throughput by as much as 42 percent at the hospital or ASC.
"One of the barriers to performing surgery such as orthopedic procedures in an outpatient setting is having someone with the right kind of surgical expertise to make the surgery efficient in that setting," says Dr. Thording. "First Assists reduce surgery time by around 30 percent and surgery centers are able to serve more patients in a shorter amount of time."
In the future, providers will experience increases in the patient population as more patients have insurance and the baby boomer population ages. Improving efficiencies can solve some access to care issues that could arise as a result.
"This solution enables providers to bridge the gap between a flat lined surgeon population and increasing patient population demands," says Dr. Thording. "Surgery centers have to address the challenge of increasing patient demands without as much time or as many resources available."
Outpatient surgery centers will become more popular for orthopedics and other key areas as more surgeons are trained in less invasive procedures that are safer and cheaper to perform. Shorter time under anesthesia and limited hospital stays will also benefit the patients and healthcare system.
Surgical First Assists are trained through the Intralign Academy and are paid through the company. Currently, 10 percent of Surgical First Assistants are working in ASCs. "I think that percentage could increase significantly when people recognize the value," says Dr. Thording. "If the surgeon is left on his or her own, the cases won't produce the kind of efficiency surgery centers need."
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