Marion K. Jenkins, PhD, FHIMSS, is founder and CEO of QSE Technologies.
Q: What are the traits exhibited by ambulatory surgery centers which you consider to be in a good position concerning IT?
Marion Jenkins: Considering the operation of the surgery center itself, it's those with the ability to monitor and track their operations, and do metrics and dashboards on such things as which cases are profitable, which doctors are profitable and how to manage that information. That requires a fair amount of automation and data collection on the front-end so they can know such things as what consumables and devices go into a case. ASCs that have automation and have systems that track those things obviously have a huge advantage versus facilities that do not.
Lack of automation impacts everything — from supply chain to how long the procedure lasts to the consumables to accounts receivable and everything else. Without automation, you're not going to have to do a lot of manual processing to know the answers to key operational questions. The facilities that are advanced in those areas are going to have a huge advantage.
Q: What about in areas concerning patient relations and satisfaction?
MKJ: Studies have shown patients want and really demand automation. They hate paper forms. They hate the check-in process with its proverbial clipboard. They hate those pre-procedure forms they have to fill out over and over. They just left their doctor, and they told the doctor their medical history and now the ASC gives them all of these blank forms to fill out. That really frustrates people.
The good ASCs not only have systems and automation that allow them to track their costs and performance, they also provide automation tools for their patients. An ASC that can give patients the ability to do their intake and pre-surgery forms either online, from a kiosk or, better yet, from an electronic personal health record, has an advantage.
Hospitals more and more are automated; they have patient portals, automated check-in, those types of features. ASCs need to keep pace with that. The design of a typical ASC is much nicer than most hospitals, the lobbies are nicer, the staff is generally more personable, outcomes are better and infections are lower. But then you hand your customer a clipboard. It's counterintuitive. It's a patient satisfaction factor and it's a competitive differentiator, too.
Q: Where do you think ASCs need to be focusing their attention concerning IT?
MKJ: There are the old standbys that have been talked about for the past five to seven years, such as future-proofing any new or remodeled facilities. Patient monitoring systems are now network-enabled, so you need to provide for automation, including cabling and bandwidth in pre-op, post-op and PACU.
HIPAA security is definitely a growing issue. There are some huge fines that are really starting to hit. I spoke recently with a healthcare attorney who said HHS has hired auditors to do unannounced audits under HIPAA security and ASCs are in the crosshairs because there's an assumption by many people that ASCs are substandard [in their compliance].
It's not going to be long before some ASCs hit the news relative to HIPAA security, and the fines are 10 times what they used to be. There aren't many ASCs that can take that kind of hit or the brain damage of having someone force an urgent HIPAA remediation plan on them.
Marion K. Jenkins, PhD, FHIMSS, is founder and CEO of QSE Technologies, which provides IT consulting and implementation services for ASCs and other medical facilities nationwide. Learn more about QSE Technologies at www.qsetech.com or contact Marion at marion.jenkins@qsetech.com.
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