Operating rooms are the most resource intensive facilities across healthcare and also represent high carbon utilization intensity and emissions. There are about 225,000 operating rooms in the US; of which 7% (16,500) are in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and 208,500 are in the hospital settings.

940,000 cataract surgeries are performed at ASCs, outnumbering all other surgeries at ASCs. Unfortunately, at every cataract surgery site drug and resource wastage contribute an unnecessary 23,000 to 105,000 metric tons CO2 emissions according to 2011 U.S. cataract surgery prevalence estimates. More than 3 million cataract surgeries are performed in the US every year and are expected to reach 50 million by 2050. Understanding the carbon footprint of cataract surgery is impactful since it is a high volume procedure with consistency in the use of materials and standards of practice.

Zasti is working with 5 ASCs and has developed the ATOM framework for accounting carbon emissions and this framework is deployed at the selected facilities to:

• Baseline emissions for ASCs to calculate carbon intensity
• Develop recommendations on industry benchmarks to be adopted
• Identify specific “hotspot” opportunities to reduce waste, save costs and cut down on carbon emissions