If you are an administrator in a hospital or a diagnostic imaging center, then chances are you are already looking at your MRI utilization. MRI exams have a relatively large contribution margin and being able to “squeeze” an extra exam here or there can have a huge financial long-term impact.
You cannot aim for 100 % utilization—that would be unachievable and certainly inadvisable. There will always be claustrophobic patients, late patients, and “no shows”, among other legitimate reasons for lower than 100% utilization. Also, a schedule should have “gaps” to accommodate emergency add-on cases and allow for exam overruns.
A good starting utilization goal is 85%. In this example (Table 1), I am using a year’s worth of data to look at room utilization, defined as number of minutes patients are on the table divided by the number of minutes a room is staffed. This particular machine had 65% utilization. The addition of one 45-minute exam every weekday would bring the utilization to 71% and generate between $75,000 and $200,000 annually (assumed a contribution margin range between $300 to $800 /case). This is only from one machine reaching 71% utilization only.
The next challenge is where to find those opportunities. One potential area is to look at your first case of the day—is it starting on time? A quick visual (Graph 1) of the average starting time for a whole year reveals that the “begin” time for the first case is all over the place. If the first exam is scheduled for 7 AM, then there may be opportunities for improvement.
The example presented here uses one year’s-worth of data. It is high level and meant to show potential opportunities. A lot can happen in one year. A second iteration of the analysis should probably look at the latest quarter.
As I have recommended in a previous blog, it is important to sit with the client and those who know the operation best, before coming up with any recommendations. Only they can tell you if the schedule has changed within the year, and exactly at what moment a technologist “begins” an exam (i.e., is it when the patient enters the room or when the patient is on the table?).
This type of detailed analysis is difficult to achieve using canned reports. Those may be quick and easy, but they do not give you the flexibility you need when looking for improvement opportunities.
Raw data, on the other hand, is like a raging river—it can be overwhelming, but it can hide some golden opportunities in its depths. In the hands of someone who can navigate it, those opportunities can be surfaced.