May 29, 2025 2:53:13 PM

Navigating Challenges of Operating Room Management: A 2025 Perspective

Operating Room (OR) managers face a rapidly evolving landscape characterized by increasing surgical volumes, rapid technological advancements, staffing challenges, and growing safety demands. Navigating these shifts is essential to maintaining safe, efficient and high-performing ORs.

Wondering how to improve OR efficiency in hospitals in 2025? It starts with understanding the most pressing shifts in surgical operations and the 2025 trends in surgical services management.

Here are the key developments shaping Operating Room management — and don’t miss the infographic at the end summarizing the data driving change across hospitals nationwide:

outpatient

1. Rising Surgical Volumes and Demographic Drivers

The demand for surgical procedures has grown significantly over the past two decades. Between 2000 and 2020, the U.S. experienced a 31.5% increase in overall surgical volume, far outpacing the 18% population growth during the same time. This upward trend is expected to continue. In 2024, approximately 113 million surgical procedures were performed in the United States. General surgery procedures in the U.S. increased by approximately 19% in 2024, following a 25% rise in 2023. The number is projected to rise steadily each year, reaching about 137.5 million procedures by 2030. This increase is driven by an aging population that needs more care, along with medical advances that enable less invasive procedures and faster recovery times.

Hospitals are feeling the pressure to do more with less: maximizing OR throughput without compromising safety or quality. As case volumes grow, even minor inefficiencies can ripple through the entire surgical schedule. The organizations rising to meet this moment are investing in smarter systems, stronger support models and collaborative partners to ease the burden on clinical teams.

2. Trends in Outpatient Surgery: Medicare Reimbursement and Technology Advances

Technological advances combined with evolving Medicare reimbursement policies continue to accelerate the shift toward outpatient surgeries. The COVID-19 pandemic further pushed healthcare systems to reduce inpatient stays where possible, boosting outpatient care volumes.

Medicare reimburses millions of outpatient procedures annually through a complex system reflecting the growing diversity of outpatient care. In 2016, the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System covered approximately 3,400 procedures, reflecting a diverse but focused set of outpatient services reimbursed for facilities. By 2025, the number of procedures eligible for reimbursement under OPPS/ASC has expanded significantly, with CMS approving more complex surgeries, such as joint replacements and cardiac procedures, for outpatient settings.

Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) are central to this trend. ASC procedure volume is projected to grow by 21% from 2024 to 2034, reaching 44 million cases. This surge is driven by a combination of clinical innovation, payer incentives, and patient preferences for the more convenient and lower-cost setting ASCs provide. As more complex procedures move into outpatient environments, ASCs will continue to play a key role in absorbing this growth.

To remain competitive and financially sustainable, hospitals need to remain agile by adopting cost-effective technologies such as telehealth and streamlined pre-op assessments. ASCs will continue to grow and absorb more outpatient volume. Hospitals must leverage these innovations—alongside operational efficiencies—to deliver high-quality surgical care, meet patient expectations, and manage costs in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.

3. Staffing Pressures, Efficiency Barriers and Burnout in the OR

Staffing remains one of the most urgent challenges for OR leaders in 2025. In a recent survey, three out of five hospital leaders reported that staffing shortages are a substantial barrier to efficiency. These gaps span the entire perioperative team, from nurses and techs to sterile processing.

It’s no surprise that 77% of healthcare workers report feeling burned out, often due to short staffing and administrative overload. Burnout impacts morale and contributes to higher turnover rates. Hospitals face increasing pressure to find smarter, more sustainable ways to empower their teams.

The bottom line?

Strengthening your Operating Room starts with taking care of your people and providing them with the necessary resources needed. More hospitals are partnering closely with OR teams, outsourcing essential services such as sterile processing and supply chain management to ease the burden and allow staff to focus on what they do best: delivering safe, high-quality patient care.

4. Patient Safety and Equipment Sterilization Risks

When surgical volumes rise and teams are stretched thin, all it takes is one missed step in sterilization to result in serious consequences. Improperly processed surgical instruments can put a patient’s life at risk.

The Joint Commission reported that nearly 70% of immediate threat-to-life (ITL) incidents in hospitals stemmed from failures in sterilization or high-level disinfection. And with 1 in 31 patients acquiring a healthcare-associated infection, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

The good news?

These risks are preventable. Protecting patients starts with consistency. This includes strict adherence to sterilization protocols—and partnering with experts who deliver that standard, day in and day out.

Increasingly, hospitals are turning to trusted partners who specialize in the reprocessing of surgical equipment. With the proper support, OR teams can stay focused on care, confident that every instrument is clean, safe, and ready for the next case.

Partnering for OR Excellence: Surgical Solutions in 2025 and Beyond

At Surgical Solutions, our vision is simple: improve the lives of all those we serve. We understand every detail in the operating room matters, because every second matters. Imagine an OR where…

procedures begin on time,
equipment is perfectly prepared and well maintained,
workflows operate seamlessly,
turnaround times are on point
and teams walk in confident, not stressed or overburdened.

This is not just wishful thinking. It is achievable!

Surgical Solutions takes on those time-intensive tasks such as managing Operating Room equipment sterilization, improving OR efficiency and finding surgical workflow solutions so your staff can focus on providing exceptional patient care.

OR management in 2025 is more complex than ever. But complexity doesn’t always mean chaos. Every challenge opens the door to a smarter, stronger system. That’s where we come in. At Surgical Solutions, our support leads to real results:

Safer surgeries,
More efficient workflows,
Faster turnaround times
And better outcomes for patients and staff.

We're proud to be recognized for our unwavering commitment to safety and quality. In 2025, we renewed our ISO 9001 certification and were honored by Healthcare Business Review as Top Sterile Processing Provider of 2025. These achievements reflect the dedication of our incredible team, all working together and pushing toward a common goal: helping Operating Rooms thrive.

Let’s get started. Contact Surgical Solutions today.

If you are looking into how to improve OR efficiency in an increasingly high-pressure environment, look no further than Surgical Solutions. You will gain a true partner dedicated to helping you reach your goals.