"The first step to hospital recovery is the collection and analysis of data. Organizations that effectively leverage data to optimize surgery can see rapid, quantifiable, and sustained improvements in metrics that directly link to operational efficiency and associated financial benefits. The current situation presents a unique opportunity for hospitals to implement new tools to recalibrate how surgical services are evaluated, delivered, and experienced by the patient and provider. Doing this now will accelerate resolving the backlog, better positioning the organization to handle the day-to-day schedule moving forward with unprecedented confidence and clarity.

Heading down the path now to leverage historical and current data will enable health care organizations to create a robust, data-driven, surgical management plan to overcome the backlog created by the pandemic. A data-first strategy will also allow hospitals to better prepare for future disasters and re-establish a solid revenue stream sooner. Who knows? They may even grow market share."

Michael Woods is a health care executive.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Surgical volumes are still down. A data-first strategy is the key to recovery." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/06/surgical-volumes-are-still-down-a-data-first-strategy-is-the-key-to-recovery.html)