New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery was named the best hospital for orthopedic surgery in 2022 and 2023, and two leaders of the organization recently joined Becker's to share how they would ensure success at ASCs.
Here is what its co-chief emeritus of its sports medicine institute and its COO would add to their own successful ASC management cheat sheet.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
David Altchek, MD. Co-Chief Emeritus of Hospital for Special Surgery Sports Medicine Institute (New York City) and Founding Medical Director for HSS Florida (West Palm Beach): One thing outweighs all else: culture.
Justin Oppenheimer. Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer for Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City):
- Surgeon-led structure: Successful ASCs have an engaged group of surgeon leaders who care about every aspect: the clinical outcome, the patient experience, the staff experience and the bottom line. Ensuring the right leadership structure and the engaged surgeons in each role is critical.
- Unified culture: Every member of the team from the scrub tech, to the PACU nurse, the surgeon, to the receptionist needs to feel connected to the mission and goals. Everyone is a leader and has an impact on quality, experience, efficiency and results. People matter.
- Data-driven operations: While a culture of improvement is critical, you cannot improve what you cannot measure. Having a set of metrics that everyone is keyed in on helps drive performance.