Continuous Quality Improvement Measured With Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing in an Outpatient Cancer Surgery Center.

Purpose: As health care costs rise, continuous quality improvement and increased efficiency are crucial to reduce costs while providing high-quality care. Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) can help identify inefficiencies in processes of cancer care delivery. This study measured the process performance of Port-a-Cath placement in an outpatient cancer surgery center by using TDABC to evaluate patient care process.

Streamlining variability in hospital charges for standard thyroidectomy: Developing a strategy to decrease waste.

Background: We assessed the efficiency, consistency, and appropriateness of perioperative processes for standard (total) thyroidectomy and devised a valuable strategy to decrease variability and waste.

Methods: Our multidisciplinary team evaluated <23-hour stay standard thyroidectomy performed by 3 surgical endocrinologists. We used the nominal group technique, process flowcharts, and root cause analysis to evaluate 6 perioperative processes.