At the 19th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 26, Carol Hiatt, RN, LHRM, CASC, consultant and accreditation surveyor for Healthcare Consultants International, and Paul Faraclas, president of CTQ Solutions, discussed the importance of strategic benchmarking for ambulatory service centers.
Ms. Hiatt and Mr. Faraclas both stressed that ASC benchmarks are useful in identifying what is possible. They agreed that benchmarking should be seen as an opportunity, not an obligation. They both also stressed that benchmarks can only be useful if they are compared and used.
Ms. Hiatt said historically, benchmarks were a way to identify industry leaders. Moving forward, she said benchmarking will affect payor contracts and reimbursement rates and will influence potential patients and surgeons. Overall, when the information is available online, it will affect how people shop for physicians and could affect patient volume. "This is serious, so get ahead of it," Ms. Hiatt said. She especially stressed that benchmarks will affect an ASC's community reputation as a quality healthcare provider.
Then, Ms. Hiatt explained CMS's reporting initiatives, which are the six priorities of the National Quality Strategy. They are:
• Reducing harm and making care safer
• Ensuring each person and family are engaged as partners in their care
• Promoting effective communication and coordination of care
• Promoting the most effective prevention for leading causes of mortality, starting with cardiovascular disease
• Promoting the use of best practices
• Making quality care more affordable
Ms. Hiatt said that these six priorities should be important to every ASC, not just Medicare-participating ASCs. "All payors are going to be required to do this. Whatever CMS adopts, it will go to everyone else," she said.
She recommended using free opportunities, such as the ASC Quality Collaboration report, to get information and attempt to exceed published numbers if possible.
Mr. Faraclas also stressed using patient satisfaction and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores to evaluate performance and improve. "Put together an actionable plan with surveys and don't be driven by scores," he said. “And if you have a patient complaint, reach out, make them feel better, and learn from it.”
Overall, both speakers agreed that "what gets measured, gets managed" and encouraged ASCs to compare scores with other market-area centers in order to improve.
Ms. Hiatt and Mr. Faraclas both stressed that ASC benchmarks are useful in identifying what is possible. They agreed that benchmarking should be seen as an opportunity, not an obligation. They both also stressed that benchmarks can only be useful if they are compared and used.
Ms. Hiatt said historically, benchmarks were a way to identify industry leaders. Moving forward, she said benchmarking will affect payor contracts and reimbursement rates and will influence potential patients and surgeons. Overall, when the information is available online, it will affect how people shop for physicians and could affect patient volume. "This is serious, so get ahead of it," Ms. Hiatt said. She especially stressed that benchmarks will affect an ASC's community reputation as a quality healthcare provider.
Then, Ms. Hiatt explained CMS's reporting initiatives, which are the six priorities of the National Quality Strategy. They are:
• Reducing harm and making care safer
• Ensuring each person and family are engaged as partners in their care
• Promoting effective communication and coordination of care
• Promoting the most effective prevention for leading causes of mortality, starting with cardiovascular disease
• Promoting the use of best practices
• Making quality care more affordable
Ms. Hiatt said that these six priorities should be important to every ASC, not just Medicare-participating ASCs. "All payors are going to be required to do this. Whatever CMS adopts, it will go to everyone else," she said.
She recommended using free opportunities, such as the ASC Quality Collaboration report, to get information and attempt to exceed published numbers if possible.
Mr. Faraclas also stressed using patient satisfaction and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores to evaluate performance and improve. "Put together an actionable plan with surveys and don't be driven by scores," he said. “And if you have a patient complaint, reach out, make them feel better, and learn from it.”
Overall, both speakers agreed that "what gets measured, gets managed" and encouraged ASCs to compare scores with other market-area centers in order to improve.