Change in Policy Allowing Overlapping Surgery Decreases Length of Stay in an Academic, Safety-Net Hospital.

BACKGROUND: The practice of surgeons running overlapping operating rooms has recently come under scrutiny. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of hospital policy allowing overlapping rooms in the case of patients admitted to a tertiary care, safety-net hospital for urgent neurosurgical procedures. METHODS: The neurosurgery service at the hospital being studied transitioned from routinely allowing 1 room per day (period 1) to overlapping rooms (period 2), with the second room being staffed by the same attending surgeon. Patients undergoing neurosurgical intervention in each period were retrospectively compared. Demographics, indication, case type, complications, outcomes, and total charges were tracked. RESULTS: There were 59 urgent cases in period 1 and 63 in period 2. In the case of these patients, the length of stay was significantly decreased in period 2 (13.09 d vs 19.52; P = .006). The time from admission to surgery (wait time) was also significantly decreased in period 2 (5.12 d vs 7.00; P = .04). Total charges also trended towards less in period 2 (${\$}$150 942 vs ${\$}$200 075; P = .05). Surgical complications were no different between the groups (16.9% vs 14.3%; P = .59), but medical complications were significantly decreased in period 2 (14.3% vs 30.5%; P = .009). Significantly more patients were discharged to home in period 2 (69.8% vs 42.4%; P = .003). CONCLUSION: As a matter of policy, allowing overlapping rooms significantly reduces the length of stay in the case of a vulnerable population in need of urgent surgery at a single safety-net academic institution. This may be due to a reduction in medical complications in these patients.