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Highlight Reel - What is one thing you can do to improve your Surgery Center?
128 Plays2 years ago
Over the last three months, we have had 9 amazing ASC leaders on our podcast. At the end of every discussion, we always ask them, “What is one thing our listeners can do this week to improve their surgery centers?” To close out the first quarter of the year, we took all 9 of their answers and turned them into this week’s episode. Topics range from benchmarking to scheduling to rev cycle trends and so much more, so we hope everyone enjoys this round-up of things you can do this week to improve your surgery centers.
Brought to you by HST Pathways.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Episode Format
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to This Week in Surgery Centers. If you're in the ASC industry, then you're in the right place. Every week, we'll start the episode off by sharing an interesting conversation we had with our featured guests, and then we'll close the episode by recapping the latest news impacting surgery centers. We're excited to share with you what we have, so let's get started and see what the industry's been up to.
Highlighting Advice from Past Guests
00:00:28
Speaker
Hi, everyone. For today's episode, we are going to change it up a bit from our usual format and agenda. There'll be no guest interview and no news, but instead a highlight reel of all the great advice our most recent guests have shared. Over the last three months, we have had nine amazing ASC leaders on the podcast
00:00:47
Speaker
And at the end of every episode, we always ask them the same question.
Strategies for Improving Surgery Centers
00:00:52
Speaker
What is one thing our listeners can do this week to improve their surgery centers? So we took all nine of their answers and turned them into this week's recap episode. Topics range from benchmarking to scheduling to rev cycle trends and so much more. So I hope everyone enjoys the episode and learns a little something. And here's a roundup of things you can do this week to improve your surgery center.
00:01:20
Speaker
Aska is hosting our first fly-in in three years. And I would say, you know, if at all possible, if you can come and participate in our, you know, fly-in, also known as our National Advocacy Day, you know, really, that's how you're going to help make an impact, not only for your facility, but the industry as a whole.
00:01:40
Speaker
is getting in front of your elected officials and telling them your story and how great you are. That's how we really get through to them. If that's not feasible, I would say host a facility tour and bring folks in.
Aligning Goals and Incentives
00:01:55
Speaker
I'm not a clinical person and I could never give advice on how to run your surgery center. I'm also not a business person in that sense, but what we do hear from elected officials who go to bat for us in Congress or in your states
00:02:10
Speaker
is that really hearing your story, what you're doing, and all of the great care you're providing is really what resonates with them and gets them to either sign on to our legislation or help push different wins for the industry. So that's my plug. I'd love for you all to bring people into your facilities or come to DC if you have the ability. I would encourage them to strive for progress, not perfection. I think we can drive ourselves nuts trying to be perfect.
00:02:40
Speaker
in all the multifaceted areas that ASCs are dealing with. And I think as long as you keep the goal of moving forward, always progressing, always looking for improvements, I think that you're doing exactly what you need to do. And don't be too hard on yourself if you're not as perfect as you want to be, because I don't think it's attainable. And that's what I would say.
00:03:00
Speaker
Really look at all of the stakeholders involved. I love doing the stakeholder exercise and, you know, not assuming anything. If we look at a surgery center, for example, we have our patients, you know, surgeons, anesthesia providers. We have our OR staff. We have our administrative staff. We have, you know, the administrators who are both at the facility and then the others.
00:03:27
Speaker
And to look at everybody's goals and incentives and really make sure that those are in alignment. And if there are ongoing issues or if they have had trouble with anesthesia coverage or retaining anesthesia staff or canceling cases or whatever, ask that most important question. Why is this happening?
00:03:44
Speaker
don't assume anything, but just say, hey, why weren't you able to show up? Or why did you not want to do the case at this time? Or you've been talking about wanting to meet with our scheduler. Maybe it's time for us to do that so that everybody can express their concerns. Really just taking a look at something that may have been in existence for 10, 15, 20 years for the first time. As I mentioned, I think that what's going on in 2023 is great.
Challenges of Outpatient Complex Surgeries
00:04:12
Speaker
being able to tell people you can have a total hip replacement at a surgery center with your family close by and be able to get home and sleep in your own bed that same night is amazing. And I'm so glad we have had all the advances in every aspect in order to get to that.
00:04:30
Speaker
But we need to have an understanding that those types of cases done in that type of facility present new challenges and that we really need to make sure that we're all on the same page in order for it to not only make clinical sense, but financial sense for everybody as well. Plan to do a mock tracer. Clinical directors or administrators follow a patient through the process. You would probably be surprised
00:04:54
Speaker
what you find because you're certainly looking at your clinical records, you're looking at all your logs, you probably pop quote unquote into the back and out again. But following a patient all the way through really gives you a very different viewpoint on where there might be gaps in education and resources for your team. If I could say just one thing, it would be get copies of your managed care contracts.
Financial and Operational Tips for ASCs
00:05:21
Speaker
This is what you're supposed to be paid.
00:05:23
Speaker
It was one of the data elements that we talked about. What is your net revenue? You're not going to know unless you have copies of your contracts. And you might say, well, they're loaded in your system. And I'll say, well, they can't all be loaded like that correctly. And then if there's a change in the contract, was that fixed in your systems? So many times it's not.
00:05:49
Speaker
Please get copies of your managed care contracts, read through them, and see exactly where you're supposed to be paid. Don't trust that the payer is doing it the right way. I say empower your employees with information. These tracing things are just not for you and the board. Allow your employees to see the changes that are happening. Set a benchmark and create a goal for them. And lastly, reward them for a job well done because their success is your success.
00:06:18
Speaker
Charge Master Analysis. It really is truly a very simple process to do. I know it sounds scary and it sounds big, but it truly is not. And it will really head your facility into the right path for 2023 to get that information that you need.
00:06:41
Speaker
And like you said, it's low hanging fruit, but it's quick, low hanging fruit. I think maybe just take a time out and realize that, I mean, the staff in my office and the practice are just overwhelmed because nobody's getting paid more anymore. I mean, we're all getting paid less and we're required to do more. And I think just, I know we do a good job of it in the surgery center industry, but I think just taking a time out and making sure all the employees know
00:07:10
Speaker
you rely on them, that they're incredibly important in value. And they feel that stress, just like we all do, of this metronome of productivity just increasing and increasing. When will it end? And it may not. But what they also have to understand is we're
00:07:26
Speaker
relentless. I know my peers in the industry are relentless at looking at ways to make their jobs easier, not harder, to find help to help them in these processes and to let them know that we care about them. We understand that they're stressed and we're working every day to make sure that they're less stressed and that we just value our team. Pick up the phone and call two of your partners.
00:07:50
Speaker
and supply partners, right? So make that your GPO rep and make that your highest spend direct supplier rep. And just know that relationships matter. And having those relationships, having those contacts, these organizations are there for the ASEs to help them. And when shown the right data, they can help you save money as well. So just pick up the phone or go sit down for a cup of coffee.