Every day, millions of patients undergo procedures in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), and a very small percentage of them have complications during and after the procedure. Fortunately, new technologies promise to address problems that have challenged patients and their surgical teams.New analytical tools using artificial intelligence and machine learning, coupled with data streams from patients, can be used to better understand patient risk sand develop treatment strategies to reduce complications and improve outcomes.These new tools promise to reduce waste (defined as care that does not add to the patient’s health).For example, a patient who develops a wound infection post-operatively that requires re-operation and hospital admission may benefit from those interventions, but if the patient had gotten treatment earlier for the wound infection,hospitalization and re-operation could have been avoided altogether. Waste is common in our healthcare system today, but things are already starting to change.
How can new technologies reduce waste and improve outcomes for patients treated in ASCs? These tools can help predict risk of complications, better manage surgical procedures, and post-operative recovery.Physicians and teams managing surgical patients face several difficult issues: when is it safe to take my patient to surgery? What are the identifiable risks of surgery for this patient and what can be done to minimize those risks? How can the surgery be made as safe as possible? What does this patient need to heal successfully after surgery and what can be done to minimize surgical complications that require treatment? Better answers to these questions lead to better outcomes for patients and reduce wasteful expenditures … read more