In hospitals today, financial margins are tighter than ever, surgical services are contributing to an increasing share of revenue, and ongoing workforce and resource shortages add complexity to daily operations. As a result, OR schedule optimization platforms have emerged as a key lever in the struggle to find time and increase capacity. Tools like LeanTaaS iQueue, Qventus, Epic Systems OR Marketplace, and Apella seek to improve block time utilization and increase surgical case throughput while reducing average costs and improving surgeon satisfaction.
This post outlines the basics of a few leading vendors in the OR schedule optimization landscape, offering an easy-to-understand overview of each, along with their core strengths and weaknesses.
What is OR schedule optimization?
Operating room schedule optimization tools help hospitals tackle the complex logistical challenge of efficient block time allocation and overall OR utilization. These solutions leverage historical data, AI and machine learning, mathematical modeling, user behavior insights, and direct input from clinicians to:
- Manage and drive surgical case volume
- Facilitate case scheduling and release workflows
- Smooth day-of-surgery execution and limit variability
- Enhance surgeon, anesthesiologist, and perioperative team engagement
Leading tools in this space offer marketplace-style access to surgical time, predictive analytics for block release, and integrations with EHR systems.
LeanTaaS
Founded: 2010
HQ: Santa Clara, CA
Known best for: Hospitals prioritizing mature, data-heavy scheduling solutions and emphasis on services models
LeanTaaS was among the first tools to apply analytics to OR scheduling. Originally focused on (and still offering solutions for) infusion centers, LeanTaas iQueue has evolved into a platform for OR schedule optimization, with a focus on block time analytics. It uses prescriptive mathematical models trained on historical EHR data to suggest optimal time allocation and forecast block release opportunities. Recent updates include an AI-powered chat-like interface for schedulers and perioperative staff.
Founded by a former head of McKinsey & Co.’s lean operations practice, LeanTaaS emphasizes revenue capacity as its main value driver. A majority share of the company was acquired by Bain Capital PE in 2023.
Strengths
- Data Maturity: The oldest platform in the category, LeanTaaS boasts well-trained models based on over a decade of hospital data.
- Market Presence: Particularly favored by surgical office schedulers, LeanTaaS has wide brand recognition in health systems.
- Feature Breadth: LeanTaaS’s highly visual interface defined the scope for OR schedule optimization tooling, bolstered by acquisitions like Hospital IQ.
Weaknesses
- Data Limitations: LeanTaaS iQueue models rely on EHR data, which can be inconsistent or incomplete, extending a possible information problem into a product quality issue.
- Limited Innovation: Post-acquisition by Bain Capital, the pace of new feature development has slowed. Similarly, the placement of AI and machine learning within the core of LeanTaaS iQueue’s prescriptive scheduling model lags other companies.
- High Cost: LeanTaaS is regularly quoted as the solution with the highest price point in the category, often a multiple of other options, making ROI more challenging.
Qventus
Founded: 2012
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Known best for: Health systems seeking social engagement tools, cost-effective innovation, and flexible partnerships
Similarly founded by an alum of McKinsey & Co., Qventus began in inpatient discharge optimization but expanded to perioperative scheduling. Its platform emphasizes surgeon engagement and introduced gamification to the user experience to encourage better scheduling behaviors and optimize block utilization.
Qventus also pioneered the marketplace concept in the OR schedule optimization category, allowing surgeon offices to view and request available OR time, similar to shopping for the best available flight or hotel room on Kayak or Expedia, but for surgical slots. To capitalize on its primary customer metric of total patient throughput, Qventus has also built out its AI offerings to include automated pre- and post-operative patient chat.
Strengths
- Workflow Automation: Qventus uses AI-driven assistants to automate workflows, including patient anesthesia readiness and cancellation prevention.
- Strategic Partnership: A collaboration with Intuitive Surgical aligns robotic surgery optimization with both companies’ sales efforts.
- Surgeon Engagement: The first in the category to bring clinicians into the scheduler interface, Qventus exposes released and additional block time for surgeons to claim.
Weaknesses
- Onboarding Complexity: Difficulties with setup and training can be a challenge with Qventus, and some of the features that define its strengths can be hard for users to adopt.
- Split Focus: Maintaining separate business units for inpatient, perioperative, and AI agents may dilute product maturity and customer support.
- Data Limitations: Similar to LeanTaas, Qventus depends on data from the EHR, which is known to often be incomplete or inconsistent, to structure and optimize block scheduling, which may limit the effectiveness of its recommendations
Epic Systems
Founded: 1979 (OR Marketplace launched 2025)
HQ: Verona, WI
Known best for: Health systems already using Epic that are looking for basic scheduling functionality embedded in their EHR
Epic recently launched its OR Marketplace feature as a built-in scheduling solution within its existing EHR ecosystem. It is designed to replicate basic OR schedule optimization functionality found in the solutions with which it already integrates, but without the added licensing fees.
Epic Systems has been a leader in the EHR category since the 1990s, originally founded as a healthcare billing database built on the MUMPS coding language. By focusing on user experience and strategically adding features tied to its core platform, Epic has become one of the largest privately-owned and -operated companies in the U.S.
Strengths
- No Added Cost: OR Marketplace is included at no extra charge for existing Epic customers.
- Native Integration: Epic embeds OR Marketplace within its core interface, enabling seamless access without the need for separate tools.
- Growing Adoption: Because Epic’s data was already the basis of the tools in the OR schedule optimization category, OR Marketplace can drive acceptance with little barrier or friction.
Weaknesses
- Limited Functionality: OR Marketplace lacks the advanced block time optimization and AI-driven recommendations its competitors offer.
- Minimal Support: Epic includes minimal implementation guidance or customer success resources for OR Marketplace.
- Mixed Results: Some early adopters report limited impact without dedicated oversight and change management.
- Data Limitations: Similar to LeanTaaS and Qventus, OR Marketplace relies on data manually input into Epic’s EHR (and its various accuracy and timeliness issues).
Apella
Founded: 2019
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Known best for: Busy health systems focused on efficiency, optimization, and automation across the entire perioperative cycle
Apella is the most recent entrant to the category with a Schedule Assistant feature set. Originally founded to offer AI and ambient sensing that drive real-time day-of efficiency in the OR, Apella both integrates with the EHR and draws more event data automatically generated by computer vision to inform its OR schedule optimization product.
As a result, Apella’s machine learning engine leverages precise case duration data, context-relevant information, and weighted insights to predict capacity optimizations in a different way than the other platforms in the category. Although its OR schedule optimization tools are less tested than more tenured players, it offers a distinct approach and unique data model to predict and fill schedule capacity.
Strengths
- Novel Data: Apella’s in-suite sensors capture more complete and granular event data, not found in traditional EHR documentation, enabling precise forecasts on things like case duration.
- Model Training: AI autonomously annotates and categorizes data from every surgical case throughout the day, ensuring the information is both more accurate and more timely than the EHR on its own.
- Advanced Analytics: Apella is the first to predict and right-size additional schedule capacity so that more cases can be added and ORs can be more productive, rather than relying on people to bid on open time.
Weaknesses
- Newest Entrant: As a newer offering, Apella is still gaining market and brand visibility compared to the incumbent solutions.
- Initial Setup: Capturing unique and accurate data requires installing on-site sensors and additional model training.
- Broader Scope: Apella’s platform draws on real-time data and insights for managing day-of perioperative and clinical workflow efficiency, not just OR schedule optimization.
Looking for a deeper dive into OR schedule optimization? Are you evaluating tools for your RFP process? Reach out to explore how Apella fits into this landscape and how better OR intelligence can enhance your existing investments.
And check out our case study on How Houston Methodist Used its Block Schedule to Triple One Surgeon's Daily Cases and identified 11 extra hours of unscheduled availability.