Dr. Helvie, United States: Scaling a Growing Practice Through Flip Room Optimization
At the Surgery Center of Lynchburg, Dr. Helvie was in the early stages of his private orthopedic practice, steadily building a reputation for high-quality joint and sports medicine care. Supported by a well-coordinated and experienced clinical team, he began exploring sustainable ways to grow his surgical volume while maintaining his commitment to excellent patient care. After hearing about a colleague’s experience with DEO.care, he decided to partner with the team to explore how a data-driven approach might help increase capacity.
Generating Data-Driven Insights
The DEO.care team began by observing Dr. Helvie’s standard OR day to understand how time and resources were used. At the time, he was running a single room and beginning to test a flip room setup, with plans to eventually increase the number of flip days.
Using process digital twin simulations, DEO.care identified opportunities to streamline workflows and increase daily throughput—while ending the OR day by 3 p.m. Recommendations included optimizing the daily case mix, identifying tasks that could happen in parallel, and refining communication points to maintain momentum throughout the day. With the added complexity of running both single and flip rooms, leveraging DEO.care’s digital twin simulations allowed the team to test out approaches virtually.
These shifts weren’t about pushing the surgeon to move faster, but about creating a consistent and manageable rhythm—especially important during the growth stages of a practice.
Turning Insight into a Team-Aligned Blueprint
To align the team around the insights, DEO.care facilitated a collaborative workshop with the OR teams. Using workflow visuals and data, the session allowed engagement with staff, bringing key roles into the conversation and culminated in a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide change implementation.
Kylie Cottrell, the OR Coordinator at the center, noted the value of the workshop, saying, “The workshop was a great opportunity for our team to come together and align on how we could work more seamlessly. The SOP we created has become our blueprint—it’s easy to reference and has brought more clarity to our daily routines.”
In addition to creating a smoother flow for the team, the impact on Dr. Helvie’s original goals was measurable: the OR can now consistently schedule up to three additional cases per day, while respecting the center’s 3pm end time. They currently complete 7 total joints in flip rooms and 5 total joints in a single room in an 8-hour block.
Enabling Success, Together
For Dr. Helvie, the DEO.care engagement helped build a scalable and sustainable system that supported his growth by layering data onto an already strong foundation. The center is now partnering with DEO.care to expand this approach to additional surgeons—elevating operational excellence while continuing its commitment to high-quality patient care.
