Lori Tamburo Martini serves as an administrator at Specialty Orthopedic Group Surgery Center in Tupelo, Miss.
Ms. Tamburo Martini will serve on the panel "Benchmarking: How to Utilize Data to Drive Efficiency and Profitability" at Becker's 19th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from June 16-18.
To learn more and register, click here.
Question: What issues are you spending most of your time on today?
Lori Tamburo Martini: Quality and compliance are consuming a lot of time. It is an ongoing process, and there is always something to modify or review. Educating our staff and providers is a significant part of this process. I also spend a lot of time on data analytics. Developing a more robust reporting program has been a high priority. I have been creating financial and operations dashboards to roll out and will be adding case-costing data over the next several months.
Q: What are your top challenges and how will they change over the next 12 months?
LTM: Our top challenges are time, growth, space and staffing. However, time and growth are good problems to have, but maximizing efficiency while growing can be challenging. Our current volume is increasing, and we need to make room for surgeons who will be onboarding. Space is a factor for most facilities, so we have had to get creative. We purchased a building behind our ASC that will eventually provide more storage and housing dedicated to urgent care and business operations. We also have plans for a second ASC. Staffing issues have been slowly coming to a close, and we expect to be fully staffed in the next month.
Q: How are you thinking about investments and growth in the next two years?
LTM: Our facility and practice are experiencing tremendous growth. Specialty Orthopedic Group is expanding clinic and ASC operations and adding multiple physicians. We are a subspecialized group, and physician recruitment is a top priority. We intend to remain independent during this time of growth. Our physicians strongly believe in investing in themselves. We will be breaking ground on a second surgery center, hopefully by the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, and that will allow us to better serve an expanded footprint in North Mississippi.
Q: What are you most excited about right now?
LTM: I am excited to be part of our overall growth and to develop our pain and spine program further. We will have a new orthopedic spine surgeon joining us in 2023. I am looking forward to exploring new technology in the orthopedic space and bringing some of it to our ASC. I am also excited to work toward advanced orthopedic certification with AAAHC.