How Optum’s AI tool helped boost OR use by 7%

More than half of health systems are understaffed in surgical departments, and about 60% of operations start later than scheduled, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These delays ripple outward, increasing costs, wasting supplies and adding to clinician burnout while some patients wait weeks or months for surgeries.

John Kontor, MD, senior vice president of clinical technologies at Optum, has spent much of his career examining these challenges. He described cost pressures, outdated scheduling practices and uneven performance as persistent obstacles for health systems. 

“When your doctor tells you your surgery is going to be at noon, most likely it’s not going to be at noon,” he told Becker’s. “It’s the rule rather than the exception.”

To help address these issues, Optum developed Crimson AI, which Dr. Kontor described as a predictive analytics platform designed to improve operating room scheduling and performance. He said the system connects to EHRs and integrates scheduling, supply chain and clinical data to forecast demand and highlight underused OR time. It also draws on historical patterns and real-time data to recommend adjustments that reduce bottlenecks and improve reliability. A conversational interface allows hospital leaders to query internal data and compare it against broader benchmarks.

Dr. Kontor said the results are already visible among early adopters. 

“On average, we’re seeing surgeries scheduled about seven days faster than before these tools were implemented,” he said. “Hospitals are also reporting about a 7% improvement in the number of cases their operating rooms can support.” 

Supply chain efficiency has also been a focus. Dr. Kontor noted that nearly 27% of surgical supplies go unused for reasons ranging from expired stock to procedural changes. He said one health system in New York used Crimson AI to identify patterns of waste and reduced operative supply spending by 16% after identifying materials that were frequently pulled but never used.

Workforce management is another major concern. Dr. Kontor said aligning staff with fluctuating surgical demand can be difficult, leading to overtime and idle rooms.

To help manage that gap, the Crimson AI identifies underused block time, flags cases likely to run long and suggests how to reassign OR time. At Washington, D.C.-based Children’s National Hospital, for example, Dr. Kontor said the analytics shortened surgical scheduling lead time by more than a week and increased case volume by 7%, easing pressure on staff.

Dr. Kontor said he sees AI as a turning point, similar in scale to the arrival of electronic health records.

“With the introduction of AI, I really believe that we have the ability to bring real-time guidance to providers, patients and operators,” he said. “That means simultaneously improving quality outcomes and cost efficiency.”

He also acknowledged the risks of rapid adoption. According to Dr. Kontor, Optum has set up review boards to evaluate AI use and minimize bias — a step he sees as necessary for health systems trying to balance innovation with responsibility.

“The risks to the industry are real,” he said. “But I’m optimistic that, in a shorter time frame than any of us would have predicted a year ago, the safe and effective use of AI is a nut we’re going to crack.”

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