At the 19th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago Oct. 26, Brian Brown, regional vice president of operations of Meridian Surgical Partners, shared 10 statistics ASCs should review daily, weekly and monthly.
"Data is key," Mr. Brown said. "If you have access to your data, you will have more power as an administrator, clinical director or business office manager."
Here are 10 data points ASCs should collect:
1. Case volume.
2. Cash collections.
3. Net revenue per case.
4. Salaries per case.
5. Hours per case.
6. Supplies per case.
7. Days in accounts receivable.
8. Bad debt.
9. Satisfaction.
10. Distributions or "the bottom line."
Mr. Brown described how ASCs can view these statistics on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. While he separated data collection into these categories, he emphasized the importance of each ASC evaluating its individual needs as a facility and using those needs as a guide for data review.
Daily
• Scheduling. Mr. Brown suggested centers track cases vs. budget, room utilization and gaps in the schedule.
• Collections. Collections measures include electronic billing, verifying bills went "clean" and accounts rolling to more than 90 days. Collections are critical for staying on top of the financial health of an ASC. "If you don't have a focus on collections, you're not going to have success at the end of the day," Mr. Brown said.
• Supplies. Behind salaries and wages, supplies are the biggest cost in ASCs. "If you lose track of either of those, you're on track for financial disaster," Mr. Brown said. ASCs should load pricing and preference cards in a patient accounting system and monitor the opening of items in the operating room, according to Mr. Brown. Tracking these numbers can help ASCs calculate cost per case.
Weekly
• Cases vs. budget. This category includes staffing, planning capital expenditures and managing cash flow.
• Collections goal. Mr. Brown suggested making a collections goal, posting it for employees and incentivizing employees to meet this goal.
• Denial log. ASCs should track and log all denials.
• Cash management. Cash management includes collections, accounts payable, payroll and available cash.
• Hours per case. ASCs should track both productive hours — hours employees work — and non-productive hours — hours employees are on vacation and other paid time off, according to Mr. Brown.
Monthly
• Net revenue. ASCs should monitor volume variances and rate variances when looking at net revenue. Rates will vary by payor, subspecialty and implants used. Mr. Brown said ASCs should always compare their current revenue with their revenue the previous year to determine their growth.
• Days in accounts receivable.
• Supplies per case. Supplies per case involve the case mix, the cost of implants and intraocular lenses, current vendor contracts, group purchasing organization compliance and employee incentives.
• Distributions/the bottom line. Distributions include EBITDA and cash flow from operations.
• Satisfaction. ASCs should track patient, physician and staff satisfaction, because satisfaction is a measure of the facility's quality and it affects patient volume.
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"Data is key," Mr. Brown said. "If you have access to your data, you will have more power as an administrator, clinical director or business office manager."
Here are 10 data points ASCs should collect:
1. Case volume.
2. Cash collections.
3. Net revenue per case.
4. Salaries per case.
5. Hours per case.
6. Supplies per case.
7. Days in accounts receivable.
8. Bad debt.
9. Satisfaction.
10. Distributions or "the bottom line."
Mr. Brown described how ASCs can view these statistics on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. While he separated data collection into these categories, he emphasized the importance of each ASC evaluating its individual needs as a facility and using those needs as a guide for data review.
Daily
• Scheduling. Mr. Brown suggested centers track cases vs. budget, room utilization and gaps in the schedule.
• Collections. Collections measures include electronic billing, verifying bills went "clean" and accounts rolling to more than 90 days. Collections are critical for staying on top of the financial health of an ASC. "If you don't have a focus on collections, you're not going to have success at the end of the day," Mr. Brown said.
• Supplies. Behind salaries and wages, supplies are the biggest cost in ASCs. "If you lose track of either of those, you're on track for financial disaster," Mr. Brown said. ASCs should load pricing and preference cards in a patient accounting system and monitor the opening of items in the operating room, according to Mr. Brown. Tracking these numbers can help ASCs calculate cost per case.
Weekly
• Cases vs. budget. This category includes staffing, planning capital expenditures and managing cash flow.
• Collections goal. Mr. Brown suggested making a collections goal, posting it for employees and incentivizing employees to meet this goal.
• Denial log. ASCs should track and log all denials.
• Cash management. Cash management includes collections, accounts payable, payroll and available cash.
• Hours per case. ASCs should track both productive hours — hours employees work — and non-productive hours — hours employees are on vacation and other paid time off, according to Mr. Brown.
Monthly
• Net revenue. ASCs should monitor volume variances and rate variances when looking at net revenue. Rates will vary by payor, subspecialty and implants used. Mr. Brown said ASCs should always compare their current revenue with their revenue the previous year to determine their growth.
• Days in accounts receivable.
• Supplies per case. Supplies per case involve the case mix, the cost of implants and intraocular lenses, current vendor contracts, group purchasing organization compliance and employee incentives.
• Distributions/the bottom line. Distributions include EBITDA and cash flow from operations.
• Satisfaction. ASCs should track patient, physician and staff satisfaction, because satisfaction is a measure of the facility's quality and it affects patient volume.
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