Six healthcare executives connected with Becker's to share what they would add to their own "successful ASC management" cheat sheet.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Christopher Kane. Chief Strategy Officer, Phoebe Putney Health System (Albany, Ga.):
A few suggestions:
- Develop a monthly dashboard with metrics that are relevant for all constituents: physicians, board and staff.
- Establish a patient/family panel for qualitative feedback. Change the panel every quarter.
- If your ASC is part of a health system, use the ASC for pilot projects that can be adapted and implemented elsewhere, e.g., inpatient surgery, diagnostic testing, etc.
- Constantly scan the industry and competitors for ideas. Differentiation is critical and occasional paranoia about falling behind is OK.
Susan Lee, DO. Chief Operating Officer of South Meadows Medical Center, Renown Health (Reno, Nev.): I would say that successful ASCs need to be fully aware of their contracted rates and schedule opportunities to review contractual negotiation calendars and procedure lists. As ASC procedure lists are changing with payer policies, it is always a good idea to proactively reach out to a payer to review the procedural lists and contracted rates. ASCs also need to be aware of their physician customers/consumers — ensure time utilization is consistent with their policies and work hard to create additional access for their top producing surgeons.
Shawn Lerch. Chief Executive Officer, Sauk Prairie Healthcare (Prairie du Sac, Wis.):
- Invest in your current team to retain the talent you have.
- Know your key performance indicators and report to stakeholders.
- Be transparent in communication with all team members.
- KPIs need to be both departmental and organization level.
- Empower everyone in the organization to participate and "be an owner" of their area.
- Encourage and reward innovation.
- Teach lean principles and continuous improvement.
Peter Newcomer, MD. Chief Clinical Officer of UW Health (Madison, Wis.): For us, managing an ASC is similar to our other clinical care. You have to focus on quality and safety. You have to ensure the ASC is integrated with the larger system, so the right clinical leaders, operational leaders and experts are appropriately engaged to align clinical and financial incentives and review operations. Patient experience is a big area of focus as well. Increased ambulatory surgical options are a patient satisfier, but the experience needs to be consistent and meet expectations.
Mary O'Connor, MD. Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Vori Health (Nashville, Tenn.): A structured program to drive medical, social and behavioral optimization prior to larger surgeries (THA, TKA, spine surgeries). PCP medical clearance may not involve potential targets for optimization, e.g., low albumin, vitamin D, risk of sleep apnea, hepatitis risk, etc. Good optimization prior to outpatient surgery will improve clinical outcomes and lower the risk of admission to hospital and postoperative complications. It is simply good doctoring.
Justin Oppenheimer. Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer for Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City):
- Surgeon-led structure: Successful ASCs have an engaged group of surgeon leaders who care about every aspect: the clinical outcome, the patient experience, the staff experience and the bottom line. Ensuring the right leadership structure and the engaged surgeons in each role is critical.
- Unified culture: Every member of the team from the scrub tech, to the PACU nurse, the surgeon, to the receptionist needs to feel connected to the mission and goals. Everyone is a leader and has an impact on quality, experience, efficiency and results. People matter.
- Data-driven operations: While a culture of improvement is critical, you cannot improve what you cannot measure. Having a set of metrics that everyone is keyed in on helps drive performance.