Tony Kilgore, CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates, delivered a keynote presentation at the Becker's ASC 26th Annual Meeting in Chicago on Oct. 24.
"There is a massive need to make improvements in the way care gets delivered, and we all can have an opportunity to be part of that," he said. "We all play a key role in saving costs, improving outcomes and more importantly providing a great patient and provider experience."
SCA has around 230 centers that perform around 1 million cases per year. Mr. Kilgore touched on three aspects of successful ASCs that are important for growth: clinical quality, culture and partnerships.
Clinical quality is the first important factor he discussed. "We have to be hyper protective not just of our patients and the individual outcomes that we get, but collectively as an industry we have got to continue to defend what we do," he said. "We have got to be vocal about the outcomes we get and the role that we can play in solving some of the issues that plague healthcare today. And it all starts with how we care for patients."
Culture is another important aspect of a successful ASC. He posed this question to the attendees: "What is the metric by which you measure a great culture?" Some might say they have great staff satisfaction or low turnover rates, but Mr. Kilgore thinks about culture differently. SCA made a significant investment in diversity and inclusion, and created work resource groups focused on women's leadership and veterans, among others. He also encouraged leaders to think about ways to recognize teammates and ensure they have fun.
Partnerships is the last aspect of growth Mr. Kilgore highlighted. "We are in the time and place where partnerships are becoming more complex. It's harder to survive and sustain a successful partnership simply within the four walls of the surgery center," he said. "You have to start with key surgeons, but the next important one is partnerships with hospitals."
Now, ASCs can leverage partnership opportunities with hospitals and health systems that are taking on risk and looking for ways to decrease overhead and improve efficiencies; ASCs can be good partners to achieve that goal.