During the Becker’s ASC 25th Annual Meeting I noticed that 2 prevalent and persistent themes emerged regarding the current healthcare market – both of which are great opportunities for the ASCs willing to embrace them. I have summarized those themes into 2 key takeaways that you can use to benefit your surgery center.
Embrace Price Transparency
The subject of price transparency in healthcare seemed to find a way into every session I attended – it was inescapable, but for a good reason! This is quite possibly one of the largest opportunities for surgery centers today. The shift to consumerism in the healthcare market is driving more patients to ASCs because they can have the same procedure completed at a much more affordable price and often with a higher quality of care.
The enters that have embraced price transparency, such as posting prices for the total cost of specific surgeries on their website, are reaping the benefits of this shift. And it makes sense! Many patients who may not have realized they had a choice before are now able to search online and compare costs between a surgery at an acute facility and an ASC – driving patients who want to save money (and who doesn’t) to ASCs.
Essentially, price transparency advertises all the core strengths of an ASC – efficiency, quality, and affordability – and as the market continues to see consumerism grow, it’s a great thing to advertise. To see more information on price transparency and how some ASCs that have adopted it have increased their surgical volume, revenue, and patient satisfaction, I suggest you read this article from Becker’s ASC Review.
Invest in Quality Data and Analytics
Another highly relevant topic that was covered just as frequently as price transparency was data and analytics – specifically the need for better quality in data. Good, clean data is worth the investment. In my opinion, this is where you make your money.
With good data, you’ll be able to see how your surgery center is performing from every different angle. You’ll be able to identify case cost down to the penny – and doing so ahead of time allows you to ensure you have enough margin on your cases for them to be profitable. With outcome data, you’ll be able to tie your costs to outcomes – increasing efficiency and performance.
Data is a very powerful tool that you can use to continuously optimize your processes and lower costs to increase margin and revenue. But you’ll only get out of it what you put in – so having high-quality, clean data is crucial if you want to truly make an impact with it.
The healthcare market is rapidly changing, and consumerism will continue to drive change in the industry. This is a great opportunity for ASCs willing to accept and adapt to the changes, as shown by the success of the centers that are pioneering this change. They have proven that shifting to a model of price transparency with quality data and analytics to monitor costs and support healthy margins allows a surgery center to capitalize on its strengths. Cardinal Health can help get your center ready for change with many of the different solutions they offer. Click here to learn more.