Tracking quality through patient portals and analytics has given The Surgical Center at Columbia (Mo.) Orthopaedic Group the opportunity to reach new levels of patient satisfaction and keep infection rates low.
Andrew Lovewell, the center's administrator, told Becker's ASC Review the center sees a 0.04 percent infection rate for outpatient total joint procedures, 99 percent patient satisfaction rate and 100 percent physician satisfaction rate.
Patient and physician satisfaction are tracked through SPH Analytics, and infection rates are tracked by the center's infection control nursing staff.
Mr. Lovewell and the center's total joint nurse navigator, Megan Halsey, spoke with Becker's ASC Review on how they've used patient engagement and tracking to help maximize total joint outcomes.
During the pandemic, Ms. Halsey used virtual patient engagement to ensure positive recovery and added tracking to their outcomes. She also added automatic tracking of outcomes which has allowed the center to pivot and change rapidly, an advantage to being a smaller organization.
The center's navigation program allows physicians and administrators to communicate directly with patients throughout the recovery process.
"We are on the phone a lot with the patients making sure that they're ready for surgery, have everything they need, have all the education they need and don't have any questions," Ms. Halsey said.
Their portal provides patients with both educational videos and recommended exercises throughout surgery recovery. Patients also can message doctors directly.
Patient engagement, paired with the data, allows the ASC to benchmark patient recovery and ensure that infections remain low.
"It has alerts built into it," Mr. Lovewell said. "We set thresholds to see where patients should be at 12 weeks. If they're below where we want them to be, we get an alert and we can intervene and change things."
