Administrator of Boulder, Colo.-based Foothills Surgery Center Lori Tamburo, CASC, discussed the key elements to improve the patient experience and bottom line at her ASC.
Ms. Tamburo will speak at the Becker's ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, October 18-20, 2018 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register.
Question: What is the smartest thing your ASC does to improve the patient experience, beyond the typical advantages an ASC has over the hospital?
Lori Tamburo: The smartest thing Foothills Surgery Center has done to improve the patient experience, aside from the typical advantages of an ASC over a hospital, is that we hired a financial counselor. It is a new role which was developed over the past year in an effort to educate our patients about their financial responsibility and ensure that they understand the financial end of surgery in an ASC. There is potential for patients to receive four EOBs for one surgery and providing the patients with individual attention to set their expectations upfront has been very beneficial. We have seen much higher patient satisfaction as a result. Here is a link to a blog I wrote on this topic.
Q: Over the next two to three years, what is the biggest opportunity for ensuring profitability at your ASC?
LT: Over the next two to three years, our ASC will be focusing on utilization of case-costing data to drive improved profitability. Pinnacle III employs a data analyst to provide detailed case-costing data to each facility they manage. This data allows administrators to identify areas where there are substantial variances between surgeons in the same specialty performing like-surgery.
Engaging surgeons and educating them about things like the impact of operating room minutes to their profitability as well as how their supply and implant costs compare to their peers will be significant in maintaining and achieving greater profitability. Standardization of supply will be an ongoing initiative, which we are currently beginning to focus on. Continuing to manage vendor contracts closely and taking advantage of the benefit the management company (Pinnacle III) brings to aggregate contracts will also be key.